The U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August

The U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August – slightly lower than economists’ anticipated gain of 160,000 jobs, but well above the gains from July which were revised down to 89,000 jobs.

Healthcare, leisure and hospitality and construction once again led the gains (31,000, 46,000 and 34,000 respectively). Manufacturing experienced a substantial decline (-24,000) while other industries, such as financial activities, information, government, retail and transportation/warehousing, showed little change over the previous month.

Average hourly earnings for all employees increased by .4% over July and 3.8% from a year ago. The unemployment rate (4.2%) and the number of unemployed people (7.1 million) both changed little in August.

The labor force participation rate stayed at 62.7%, and the number of people employed part time who would have preferred full-time employment also changed little at 4.8 million.

Job gains for June and July were revised down by a combined total of 86,000.

On Snagajob, overall job postings are down 22% month over month and up 38% year over year. Losses were driven by the Customer Service (-57%), Transportation (-45%), Education (-14%), Warehouse & Production (-13%) and Retail (-10%) industries.

Here’s your roundup of key insights from the report:

New York Times: The industries adding significant numbers of jobs in August were health care and social assistance, food and drinking establishments, and construction, which has remained surprisingly resilient in the face of high interest rates.
CNN: This just confirms that the employment market is weakening, but the sky is not falling.
Even though employers have reigned in hiring significantly, curbing job growth in the process, economists note that the underpinnings of the labor market have remained sturdy: Layoffs aren’t mounting and labor force participation remains high.
Forbes: This was the weakest August for job growth since 2017, when nonfarm payrolls increased by 135,000.

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