Economists React To The August Jobs Report On Twitter
Employers added 156,000 nonfarm payrolls in August, slightly less than predicted and a far cry from the 209,000 new jobs added in July. The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.4% and many economists expressed concerns over the lack of wage growth.
Bisnow collected some of the top observations from the jobs report on Twitter and posted them here:
Payrolls up a healthy +156k jobs. Unemployment unchanged at 4.4%. Revisions for prior months subtract -41k.
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) September 1, 2017
A healthy job market.
It's a mildly disappointing report on basically every frontier. Definitely nothing to panic over, and could be weird August seasonal stuff.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) September 1, 2017
At this point the default for December should be no rate hike. Should take some real positive inflation/wage surprises to change that.
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) September 1, 2017
A disappointing jobs report, with both lower-than-expected wages and headline number. Treasury yields fall. pic.twitter.com/ACYiF4l58y
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) September 1, 2017
The brightest spot in the August jobs report: blue collar jobs. pic.twitter.com/CoabdLcLGD
— Jed Kolko (@JedKolko) September 1, 2017
#BLS In a nutshell, August gained a higher percentage goods producing jobs than we have in a long time (42% of private), but at lower wages.
— Dan Alpert (@DanielAlpert) September 1, 2017
U.S. employers added 156,000 jobs in August. Here's who's hiring... and who's not https://t.co/0T6LjHxMnY pic.twitter.com/VNUaouqbYj
— Bloomberg (@business) September 1, 2017
Don’t freak out over slightly weaker-than-expected report, but do worry about why wage growth remains so unresponsive to tighter job market. pic.twitter.com/ILs5pMjBmt
— Jared Bernstein (@econjared) September 1, 2017
Wage growth continues to disappoint, holding at the sub-optimal level of 2.5% for five months in a row:https://t.co/Q9gQA8iSOj#JobsReport pic.twitter.com/25Pzh4057y
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) September 1, 2017
As the labor market tightens, the unemployment rate for less educated workers continues to drop. pic.twitter.com/OJyiucP3Xx
— Equitable Growth (@equitablegrowth) September 1, 2017
Just a bit weaker than expected, but interesting that goods-producing jobs did better than usual and service-providing ones worse. https://t.co/YADKNn3CBx
— Diane Lim (@economistmom) September 1, 2017
— Nick Bunker (@nick_bunker) August 31, 2017
#BLS Stunning declines in hourly wages M/M:
— Dan Alpert (@DanielAlpert) September 1, 2017
Mining/Logging to $32.56 fr $32.95
Manufacturing to $26.53 fr $26.68
Newer jobs at lower wages.
Total private sector jobs up 165,000 in August: 3-month average 191,000. Manufacturing +36,000!
— Brian Wesbury (@wesbury) September 1, 2017
Manufacturers Added 36,000 Workers in August, its Fastest Monthly Gain in 5 Years https://t.co/80keh2rfzY #mfg #jobs #hiring pic.twitter.com/AqfxLQL0rR
— Chad Moutray (@chadmoutray) September 1, 2017
Hand 1: same old story on this recovery
— Michael Madowitz (@mikemadowitz) September 1, 2017
Hand 2: The same story gets better for disadvantaged workers over time https://t.co/oFhAWIdGH8
Net new job creation is 16% lower Jan-Aug 2017 than same months of 2016 & 23% lower than 2015. Lowest rate of job creation since 2012. pic.twitter.com/wQuoPm51U4
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) September 1, 2017
#Manufacturing #employment rose to 12.48 million in August, adding more than 1 million since Great Recession https://t.co/80keh2rfzY #mfg pic.twitter.com/Q6mNmuQkFX
— Chad Moutray (@chadmoutray) September 1, 2017
Number of folks not in the labor force (thus not unemployed) who said they want a job rose by 420,000 in August. See uptick on BLS chart: pic.twitter.com/DATjp5XGCq
— David Wessel (@davidmwessel) September 1, 2017
Fewer people than expected worked, and they had a shorter work week and they did not get paid as much as expected. https://t.co/iEfF2qfcdc
— Marc Chandler (@marcmakingsense) September 1, 2017
Women made gains in education/health and hospitality industries, while men gained retail and construction #JobsReport pic.twitter.com/gE3OvJNch3
— IWPR (@IWPResearch) September 1, 2017
Black unemp rate is 7.7%, roughly twice the white rate (3.9%). The Fed must not ignore this: black unemp remains at unacceptable levels. pic.twitter.com/Zosar8uT0L
— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) September 1, 2017
The share of prime-age workers with a job continues to climb, but still falls short of goal. #JobsReport https://t.co/XnncBhHzvj pic.twitter.com/VGasN8JqIi
— Economic Policy Inst (@EconomicPolicy) September 1, 2017
Whatever the White House tells you, there are 2,100 more coal mining jobs today than there were a year ago, per today's BLS report
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) September 1, 2017
Underscoring @jasonfurman's critical point is this figure on PCE core inflation, Fed's preferred gauge of price pressures. DEceleration! pic.twitter.com/QnDy1LJdKc
— Jared Bernstein (@econjared) September 1, 2017
