'¯\_(ツ)_/¯': Economists React To August Jobs Report On Twitter
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 130,000 jobs in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, marking the country's 107th straight month of employment gains.
The unemployment rate held at 3.7%.
Notable job gains ocurred in healthcare and financial activities, but commercial real estate-related industries showed little change. Job growth in transportation and warehousing, leisure and hospitality, construction and manufacturing has abated in 2019 compared to 2018.
Here's how economists and others reacted to the jobs report on Twitter.
+130K jobs gained last month (mid-July to mid-Aug).
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) September 6, 2019
Continues longest streak of monthly job growth on record to 107 months.
We broke prior record, 48 months, in Oct 2014. Longest streak of private-sector job growth too, since April 2010.
Another choose-your-own adventure jobs report. A miss on the headline, but a beat of average hourly wages. The Fed can pick the narrative it wants to justify a cut in September & further ones down the line. Markets struggle to know what to do with this. https://t.co/nTNX0MXk5Q
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) September 6, 2019
Weakness in August employment report even larger than appears at first glance. More that 20% of job gains due to temporary hiring for 2020 census, with downward revision to previous two months.
— Diane Swonk (@DianeSwonk) September 6, 2019
Headline #jobs number of 130K is really 105K when one subtracts the 25K census workers. Private payrolls are down from 131K in July to 96K in August. The 3 month moving average for private payrolls is now below 150k vs above 200k for most of 2018.#FOMC#recessionwatch pic.twitter.com/tZ1jRlEcP1
— Constance L Hunter (@ConstanceHunter) September 6, 2019
This private sector growth is just a bit above what's needed to keep up with population growth. At least it's not below that threshold ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/dEwcGd6kCI
— Kate Bahn (@LipstickEcon) September 6, 2019
so has the economy!
— Michael Madowitz (@mikemadowitz) September 6, 2019
panic about a recession is not supported by the data, but there's no denying the economic slowdown this year https://t.co/HDsaCg9rIJ
US manufacturers added a net 44,000 jobs in the first eight months of this year--that's less than the 47,000 added in just the last two months of 2018. Big slowdown in hiring at the factory gates. pic.twitter.com/jSGuaS9Dft
— Timothy Aeppel (@TimAeppel) September 6, 2019
Good news from temporary help services, the most flexible part of employment & leading indicator of recession.
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) September 6, 2019
+15.4 K this month (Aug).
July: 2.2
June: -0.9
May: -2.0
Apr: 4.3
Mar: -10.5
Feb: 7.0
Jan: -26.3
Keep ur eye on it.
Maybe not the biggest news in the report, but definitely the most exciting for me: Prime-age (25-54) employment rate hit 80% for the first time since 2008. Extra encouraging because it had stalled out recently. pic.twitter.com/Y4iCkLa7cy
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) September 6, 2019
Prime age (25-54 years old) labor force participation rate is an important measure of core labor market strength, omits people on the fringes of work.
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) September 6, 2019
Trending up since late 2015 but weakening lately.
Good: Jumps 0.4% this month to 82.6%.
Below 10 years ago & further back pic.twitter.com/iPxOD685zv
Prime-age women are working at levels last seen in 2001: pic.twitter.com/k6WNfZEky4
— Jeanna Smialek (@jeannasmialek) September 6, 2019
Interesting contrast in headlines pic.twitter.com/Nn3lsxBq7i
— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) September 6, 2019
