The employers listed 235,000 jobs in August, crushing the expectations of 720,000 fresh hires. With that, the unemployment rate average of the country dipped to 5.2 percent – as per the reports from the Labor Department.
Brad McMillan, Chief officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, said, “headline number is obviously disappointing—much lower than expectations—and markets will react. But the interesting question is why the number is so low,” and added, “The takeaway here is that much of the weakness comes from the rise in medical risks, rather than a general slowdown in the economy which is also consistent with the weak consumer confidence numbers.”
This new average for August comes as the rollout of the contagious delta variant has diminished the recovery pace. The fresh data shows a steep fall in the offered job rate that was more than 1 million cumulatively in June and July.
According to the DOL reports, so far, the average job growth rate is 586,000 per month. Since April 2020, the employment rate has boosted to 17 million. However, the economy has still crunched about 5.3 million jobs from February 2020, compared to the pre-pandemic level – when the unemployment rate was as low as 3.5 percent before the Covid spread.
Reportedly, last month the job gains in business and professional services saw an increase of 74,000, in warehousing and 53,000 in transportation, 40,000 in the private education sector, and manufacturing added 37,000 jobs in the market.
On the contrary, the retail trade faced a decrease in job rate of 29,000 in August alone – probably the reflection of the virus comeback, with extensive losses in grocery and convenience stores – (making a loss of 23,000 jobs)
No changes have been seen in the hospitality and Leisure employment in August – according to the DOL. However, despite a surge in the job gains in June and July, the employment level is still down from the pre-pandemic level.
The latest data keeps showing the bumpy impact of the downfall due to Covid. Previously in August, whites’ unemployment rate was 4.5 percent, while for Black, it was 8.8 percent. Hispanic made 6.4 percent Asian, 4.6 percent.
The Long-term unemployment rate decreased to 3.2 million in August; however, it was still 2.1 million higher than the February 2020 average. The long-term unemployed workers’ rate comprises 37.4 percent of the total rate in August 2021. – DOL stated.
Meanwhile, the per hour rate for workers increased by 14 cents to $30.73 in the month of August 2021 – adding to increases encountered in the past 4 months.
DOL said, “The data for recent months suggest that the rising demand for the labor associated with the recovery from the pandemic may have put upward pressure on wages,”
