Jobless Numbers Raise Concern on Job Growth
The nation’s economy added 169,000 new jobs in August and the 7.3% jobless rate is down slightly from July’s 7.4%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The new jobs added were 65,000 more than the 104,000 new jobs in July (revised downward from the 162,000 originally reported ), and this is the 41st straight month of tepid job growth—growth is at a rate too slow to fuel a healthy jobs recovery.
William Spriggs, AFL-CIO chief economist, says:
These numbers raise a cautionary flag that job growth is slowing and this gives more downside risk to the Fed retreating too soon compounded by the damages of the continuation of sequestration. Household balance sheets are still precarious from slow wage growth and the continued increase in low-wage jobs.
The current pace of job growth is just enough to absorb new entrants into the market and makes little dent in the jobs deficit. The slow job growth reinforces the need for Congress to repeal the sequester and its across-the-board cuts that will cost more than 750,000 jobs this year alone and are derailing the economic recovery.
The number of long-term unemployed people (those who are jobless for 27 weeks or more) ticked up slightly from 4.2 million to 4.3 million, accounting for 37.9% of people without jobs. The number of long-term jobless has dropped by 921,000 over the past 12 months.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.1%), adult women (6.3%), teenagers (22.7%), whites (6.4%), blacks (13%) and Latinos (9.3%) showed little change in August.
The biggest job gains were in retail (44,000), health care (33,000), professional and business services (23,000), leisure and hospitality (21,000), financial services (15,000) and wholesale (14,000).
Within manufacturing, employment in motor vehicles and parts rose by 19,000 in August, after declining by 10,000 in July.
Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, construction, transportation and warehousing, financial activities and government, showed little or no change in August.
