The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) Chief Economist Curt Long issued the following statement in response to the Labor Department’s August employment report, released this morning:
"The big news from the August jobs report was the uptick in wage growth, which hit its high-water mark of the recovery at 2.9 percent. While that is a welcome development for workers, it is still only enough to offset inflation. The headline unemployment rate held at 3.9 percent as the labor force shrunk. However, broader measures of labor utilization improved, which suggests that the labor market continues to tighten. As far as the Fed is concerned, this report provides further evidence that we’re in store for two more rate hikes this year,” said NAFCU Chief Economist Curt Long.