'Decelerating': Economists React To The August Jobs Report On Twitter
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million jobs in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 8.4%.
The news caused stocks to fall in pre-market trading, Bloomberg's Lisa Abramowicz reported, tweeting that the better-than-expected unemployment rate would remove "some pressure for another round of fiscal support." To date, roughly half of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic have returned.
Employment in the retail trade sector grew by 249,000 jobs in August, and leisure and hospitality added 174,000 jobs. The leisure and hospitality sector is still down 4.1 million jobs since February.
The construction industry added 16,000 jobs in August. Employment in the construction industry is still 425,000 jobs lower than it was in February.
Here's how economists and others reacted to the jobs report on Twitter.
Today, the BLS reports an increase of 1.4 million jobs in August. In normal times, this would be an enormous jump, but it represents a noted slowdown in the pace of job growth. At this point, the U.S. economy is still down 11.5 million jobs from where it was in February.
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) September 4, 2020
August was the 6th month of the COVID crisis in the U.S. labor market, and the situation is dire. We added 1.4 million jobs in Aug, but the labor market remains in crisis. We lost so many jobs in March and Apr that we are still 11.5 million jobs below where we were in Feb. 1/
— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) September 4, 2020
The recovery has been rapid but this is still the easy part of it—with the harder part ahead.
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) September 4, 2020
The household survey showed 3.8m jobs gained but it also showed 3.1m of them came from those on temporary layoff. Recalling people from layoff is easier than creating new jobs.
Payroll employment was up 1.4 million in August and the unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in August in today's @BLS_gov report. This report shows that trends in labor force participation did not spike up from dropping the $600 in additional unemployment insurance. @AFLCIO
— William E. Spriggs (@WSpriggs) September 4, 2020
If you take out temporary Census jobs, this was 1.1 million. Last month was 1.7. The month before that was 4.7. The recovery is rapidly decelerating and we still have half of the lost jobs to get back, that shouldn't be happening.
— Adam Ozimek (@ModeledBehavior) September 4, 2020
Payroll employment is still 7.6% below February levels.
— Nick Bunker (@nick_bunker) September 4, 2020
Bounce back looking less and less v-shaped. pic.twitter.com/ZSz6WibJF4
Govt employment accounted for one-fourth of over-
— David Wessel (@davidmwessel) September 4, 2020
the-month gain in total nonfarm employment. Federal government (+251,000) reflected the hiring of 238,000 temporary 2020 Census workers. Local government employment rose by 95,000. Govt payrolls are 831,000 below February
Obviously government was a big share of job growth this month, but also retail trade, reflecting big gains in general merchandise stores among others pic.twitter.com/XPRRQBsaGB
— Martha Gimbel (@marthagimbel) September 4, 2020
"Employment in private education rose by 57,000 over the
— Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley) September 4, 2020
month." — BLS
BREAKING: U.S. hotel unemployment ticks down to 34.5% in August, still significantly higher than the 8.4% national average. @BLS_gov
— Cameron Sperance (@CameronSperance) September 4, 2020
The prime age (25-54) labor force participation rate for women FELL despite a strong jobs report. It seems likely that lack of schools open and child care is a serious restraint on women's participation in the workforce. Male prime age lfpr was up this month. pic.twitter.com/sSGKBpeCJ1
— Jay C. Shambaugh (@JayCShambaugh) September 4, 2020
Easy prediction: without in-person school and with limited childcare options, this will just get worse. https://t.co/Z1GOF9s7KD
— Bryce Covert (@brycecovert) September 4, 2020
In June I wrote about how coronavirus could set women (read: moms and other caretakers) back by yanking them out of the labor force for a while — and eventually widen the gender wage gap.
— Danielle Kurtzleben (@titonka) September 4, 2020
And it seems that we are still on that path. >>> https://t.co/ufGLIgto7O
White unemployment in August: 7.3%
— Economic Policy Institute (@EconomicPolicy) September 4, 2020
Black unemployment: 13%
Hispanic unemployment: 10.5%
Asian unemployment: 10.7%
Black unemployment finally has started improving. While the improvements are welcome, it is clear that white workers continue to have a swifter recovery. pic.twitter.com/JFMW6pi3et
Here's the most alarming part of the August jobs report:
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) September 4, 2020
Permanent job losses are rising.
They hit 3.4 million in August — the highest since 2013.
These Americans aren't getting their old jobs back. pic.twitter.com/zuGSgCfBLa
Looking beyond today’s data, a slew of layoffs totaling more than 200k in recent weeks points to weakness in the coming months as the effects of the pandemic take greater hold. https://t.co/R1i6BMcCs5 pic.twitter.com/T8l3deWGnG
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) September 4, 2020
In sum,
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) September 4, 2020
1. Jobs down about 8% since Feb
2. We've recovered about half of Mar+Apr loss
3. Pace of improvement decelerating a bit
4. Virus remains out of control
5. Fiscal support for families & small biz has fallen dramatically
6. Winter is coming.
