Steady Job Gains: Economy Adds 156,000 Jobs in August

The latest jobs numbers are out from the federal government. What do they mean for job seekers and employers? Here’s a quick take from Glassdoor’s Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain: This morning’s jobs report revealed the economy added jobs at a slightly slower pace than most economists expected in August, with employers adding 156,000 new jobs to payrolls and the nation’s unemployment rate ticking up slightly to 4.4 percent. While the topline figures fell slightly short of expectations, the labor market remains fundamentally strong. Since June, the economy has added an average of 185,000 new jobs per month -- more than enough to keep the economy hovering near full employment. When viewed in the broader context of the many other positive labor market indicators we see today -- including near record job openings, low weekly claims for new unemployment insurance, and a steady U.S. economic expansion that’s the third longest since WWII at 98 months -- the August jobs report generally offers positive news to job seekers, illustrating the remarkable resilience of the job market today. The top industries adding jobs in August were professional and business services (+40,000 jobs), manufacturing (+36,000 jobs), construction (+28,000 jobs) and health care (+16,600 jobs). The industries with the slowest pace of job growth were government (-9,000 jobs), information (which includes most media) (-8,000 jobs), utilities (-500 jobs) and retail (+800 jobs). One continued weak point in today’s report was wage growth. Average hourly earnings once again rose just 2.5 percent from a year ago in August, a sluggish pace that has been unchanged for several months. This is consistent with Glassdoor data from our Local Pay Reports, which shows sluggish median U.S. pay growth of 2.0 percent in August. Until productivity growth and inflation return to normal levels, we’re not likely to see average wage growth accelerate much beyond this 2.5 percent pace. However, Glassdoor data show that beneath the topline wage figures, many in-demand jobs are seeing 5-6 percent annual pay growth, while other jobs with weak demand are experiencing wage declines today on a year-over-year basis. As the labor market continues to tighten this fall, that’s a trend we’ll be watching closely. To speak with Dr. Andrew Chamberlain about today’s jobs report or to discuss labor market trends, contact pr at Glassdoor dot com. For the latest economics and labor market updates, follow @adchamberlain on Twitter and subscribe to Glassdoor Economic Research.