Tipsheet

August Jobs Report Has Landed

Fewer jobs were added to the U.S. economy in August than expected, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday.

The U.S. added 142,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, short of the 165,000 economists predicted, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent from 4.3 percent.

There were also revisions for June and July.

[E]mployment gains for June and July were revised down sharply, portraying an even weaker picture of the labor market in early summer. The report, along with the downward revisions, may prompt the Federal Reserve to lower its key interest rate more sharply at a meeting later this month, some economists said. […]

Payroll gains were revised from 179,000 to 118,000 in June and from 114,000 to 89,000 in July, underscoring that the labor market may be cooling more rapidly than economists anticipated. (USA Today)

“Friday’s jobs report reveals accelerating weakness in the American economy, as we've been saying all along," said Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of Job Creators Network. "Job creation was below expectations, and half of new positions were created in the unproductive government or quasi-government healthcare and social services sectors. A record 8.2 million Americans have second jobs. Prior months’ job creation was significantly revised down – again. So far this year, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by one million."

Ortiz said the weakening U.S. economy is what happens after nearly four years of the Biden-Harris administration's bad policies. 

"Families are paying approximately $28,000 more due to the cost increases under this administration, hurting discretionary spending and the Main Street economy," he noted. "Harris’s anti-small business platform of repealing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacting the largest tax hike in American history, and expanding Biden’s burdensome labor and environmental regulations would break the cracking American labor market and economy.”