Economy adds 151K jobs in August
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By Peter Schroeder - 09/02/16 08:32 AM EDT
The U.S. economy added just 151,000 jobs in the month of August, as the jobless rate held steady at 4.9 percent.
With just two months left until the presidential election, the latest jobs report fleshes out a picture of the U.S. economy that suggests it is continuing to grow, but at a slow and somewhat steady pace.
There were few dramatic swings in Friday’s report — the labor force participation rate was effectively unchanged, and the prior two months’ jobs numbers were revised with the end result being just 1,000 fewer jobs were created than previously reported over that stretch.
Wages grew at a slower pace in August than July, and the average workweek for employees actually fell slightly.
Friday’s report did not dramatically alter the overall picture of the U.S. economy, but was nonetheless seized on by Republicans to argue voters should change course from President Obama’s policies.
“The Obama economy is failing to restore prosperity for millions of Americans still out of the labor force, but Hillary Clinton wants more of the same,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in a statement. “Donald Trump has been creating jobs his entire life, and he will revive growth and create good jobs for all Americans as president.”
The Trump campaign hit a similar tone in its own statement, blasting the “Clinton-Obama economy” for failing to produce better paying jobs.
Meanwhile, the White House pointed out that job growth has averaged 182,000 jobs per month in 2016, well above the 80,000 needed a month to keep the unemployment rate steady. It also noted that wage growth at 2.8 percent has outpaced inflation, but acknowledged “more work remains” to drive up paychecks and spread economic gains.
The lukewarm jobs report led to a raft of lukewarm reactions, as the number was not good enough to drive optimism, but not bad enough to lead to despair.
“August wasn’t awesome from a jobs creation standpoint. The situation was respectable as long as we avert our eyes from wages and weakness among certain sectors,” said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com.
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“The jobs report continues to amaze me: job growth is continuing, employment is rising, unemployment remains below 5%,” tweeted Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan and former Labor Department chief economist under Obama.
The slight disappointment in the August report has many market watchers anticipating that the Federal Reserve will hold off on another interest rate hike at its September meeting. But that could also mean the central bank is debating an interest rate increase — just its second in roughly a decade and first since December — at an October meeting in the shadow of Election Day.
—Updated at 9:49 a.m.
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