Payroll employment increases by 156,000 in August; unemployment rate changes little (4.4%) [View all]

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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic News Release USDL-17-1177

Employment Situation Summary

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, September 1, 2017

Technical information:
Household data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/ces

Media contact: [phone] * [e-mail]


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- AUGUST 2017


Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and technical services, health care, and mining.

Household Survey Data

In August, the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 7.1 million, were little changed. After declining earlier in the year, the unemployment rate has been either 4.3 or 4.4 percent since April. (See table A-1.)
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The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged in August at 1.7 million and accounted for 24.7 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)

The labor force participation rate, at 62.9 percent, was unchanged in August and has shown little movement on net over the past year. The employment-population ratio, at 60.1 percent, was little changed over the month and thus far this year. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 5.3 million in August and has shown little movement in recent months. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)
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Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in August. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and technical services, health care, and mining. Employment growth has averaged 176,000 per month thus far this year, about in line with the average monthly gain of 187,000 in 2016. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment rose by 36,000 in August. Job gains occurred in motor vehicles and parts (+14,000), fabricated metal products (+5,000), and computer and electronic products (+4,000). Manufacturing has added 155,000 jobs since a recent employment low in November 2016.
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Mining continued to add jobs in August (+7,000), with all of the growth in support activities for mining. Since a recent low in October 2016, employment in mining has risen by 62,000, or 10 percent.
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In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to $26.39, after rising by 9 cents in July. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 65 cents, or 2.5 percent. In August, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 4 cents to $22.12. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down from +231,000 to +210,000, and the change for July was revised down from +209,000 to +189,000. With these revisions, employment gains in June and July combined were 41,000 less than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.) After revisions, job gains have averaged 185,000 per month over the past 3 months.

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The Employment Situation for September is scheduled to be released on Friday, October 6, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

Read more: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

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Information from this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: [phone], Federal Relay Services: 1-800-877-8339.

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The increase in jobs is lower than expected ("Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect 179,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.3%." ). The unemployment rate went up just a little bit, probably due to rounding off (i.e., July was 4.34%, which rounds down, and August was 4.35%, which rounds up). Just a guess.

June's and July's job increases were revised down a total of 41,000 jobs.

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If you're strapped for time, the quick read is here: Commissioner's Statement on The Employment Situation
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jec.nr0.htm

Statement of

William J. Wiatrowski
Acting Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, September 1, 2017

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August jobs report live coverage: Everything you need to know

Link to tweet

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LIVE ANALYSIS

August Jobs Report: Everything You Need to Know

Last Updated Sep 1, 2017 at 8:21 am ET

The U.S. Labor Department releases its August employment report Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect 179,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.3%. Tell us what you think of our live preview notifications in our short survey.

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5 Things to Watch in the August Jobs Report

https://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2017/08/30/5-things-to-watch-in-the-august-jobs-report-2/

The Labor Department releases its August employment report Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect 179,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.3%. Here are four things to watch, and one thing you wont see.

30 AUG 2017 4:18PM BY ERIC MORATH

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3 Harvey Effect

One thing you wont see in the jobs report is any impact from Hurricane Harvey and related flooding in Texas. By the time Harvey made landfall last Friday evening, nearly all data contributing to the August jobs report had been collected. The survey that determines the unemployment rate asks respondents about their work status during the week of the 12thtwo full weeks before the storm. Some data on employer payrolls may have been collected this week, but that survey asks about the pay period that includes the 12th, which for most workers wouldnt overlap with the last week of August.

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To get free access to articles in The Wall Street Journal., go in through TWSJ.'s Twitter account or the Twitter accounts of the authors.

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How to get around the paywall to read articles in The Wall Street Journal.:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141767325#post6

For free access to articles in The Wall Street Journal., trying going in through the authors' Twitter feeds:

Ben Leubsdorf: @BenLeubsdorf
https://twitter.com/BenLeubsdorf

I cover the economy at @WSJ. @ConMonitorNews, @AP, @the_herald alum. DC native. Hyperactive news omnivore. Also I like burritos. [e-mail]

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Josh Zumbrun: ‎@JoshZumbrun
https://twitter.com/JoshZumbrun

National economics correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Covering the world's usual state of greed and disorder, confusion and apathy. [e-mail]

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Nick Timiraos: @NickTimiraos
https://twitter.com/NickTimiraos

National economics correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

Please look at the tweets, as Nick Timiraos likes to slice and dice the data every which way. Also, link to the "11 charts " article from his Twitter feed to get past TWSJ.'s paywall.

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Jeffrey Sparshott: @jeffsparshott
https://twitter.com/jeffsparshott

[e-mail]

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Paul Vigna: @paulvigna
https://twitter.com/paulvigna

Markets, bitcoin, and the zombie apocalypse.

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Eric Morath: @EricMorath
https://twitter.com/EricMorath

[e-mail]

I'm a Wall Street Journal economy reporter, dad, husband and Spartan for life. [e-mail]

Washington DC

 blogs.wsj.com/economics/

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