Economic Watch: Manufacturing Jumps as Employment, Construction Slow
Job growth slowed in August, according to government numbers released Friday, while other economic reports showed manufacturing hitting a six-year high as total construction spending unexpectedly slowed – and consumers are in the best mood since 2000.
Employers added 156,000 non-farm jobs in August, according to the Labor Department, less than analysts were expecting, while trucking payrolls fell. The nation’s unemployment rate ticked upward from to 4.4% from the 16-year low of 4.3% the month before.
The department also revised downward its estimate of how many jobs were created in June and July by a combined total of 41,000.
Hiring has slowed from higher levels earlier in the year, but is better than it was in May and March, when 145,000 and 50,000 jobs were added, respectively. 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.
The for-hire trucking industry shed 1,600 jobs in August, while the wider transportation and warehousing sector added 1,900, due to big gains in employment in the support activities for transportation, and in the couriers and messengers categories where e-commerce and last-mile delivery growth are having an impact.
Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and technical services, health care, and mining. Manufacturing employment rose by 36,000 in August and has added a total 155,000 jobs since a recent employment low in November 2016.
While the latest number of job additions is a bit disappointing, what’s likely to get the attention of Federal Reserve policy makers is the lack of wage growth in the report, according to Nathan Janzen, senior economist at RBC Economic Research.
“Despite ostensibly tighter labor markets, wage growth has been stuck at 2.5% over the last five months, similar to the 2.6% average increase last year,” he said. “The lack of further acceleration in …Read the rest of this story
