The U.S. Labor Department reported that employers added only 142,000 jobs in August after the revised job growth of 212,000 in July.
The August print showed the smallest job gains since December 2013. Analysts polled by Bloomberg predicted that the number of jobs would increase by 230,000. The July print was upgraded after the forecast of 209,000.
The unemployment rate declined in August to 6.1% from 6.2% in July. So, the August jobless rate returned to the June score, the lowest one for the last 6 years.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, a decline among unemployed young people mainly accounts for the lower overall unemployment. The revised figure for June – July deducted 28,000 jobs from the hiring growth indicator.
The Federal Reserve board of governors scheduled the nearest meeting on September 16-17. The Board is expected to take into account the August survey on the jobs market in order to determine further moves in the monetary policy.
Businesses, which actively hired new employees in H1, are likely to curb creating new vacancies later on as employers will be awaiting the economic growth acceleration.
Meanwhile, wages in the U.S. edged up 0.2% in August on average as compared to July. Annually, wages rose 2.1% to $24.53 in line with market expectations. An average working week did not show any changes and consisted of 34.5 hours as expected.
