Job gains expected to continue in coming months, NAFCU says

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs grew by 1.4 million in the U.S. in August. NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long remarked on the “solid” report in a new NAFCU Macro Data Flash report.

“The August employment report was solid, with job gains meeting expectations, labor force participation growing, and the unemployment rate declining,” said Long.

The unemployment rate declined by 1.8 percentage points to 8.4 in August and the labor force participation rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 61.7 percent this month.

“One glaring problem area was a big jump in workers suffering permanent job loss,” Long added. “That figure did not change in July, but increased by 530,000 in August. There are now 3.4 million such workers, which is halfway to the peak of the Great Recession.”

 

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