Dean Baker: Economy Added 169,000 Jobs in August, but Downward Revisions Cloud Picture

[marmar]

Economy Added 169,000 Jobs in August, but Downward Revisions Cloud Picture

Friday, 06 September 2013 11:26
By Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research | Report

Bad jobs are increasing because in a weak labor market, workers can’t find anything better.

The Labor Department reported the economy added 169,000 jobs in August, largely in line with expectations. The unemployment rate also edged down to 7.3 percent, the lowest level since December of 2008. However the larger picture in both surveys was not as bright. Downward revisions of 74,000 to the prior two months’ data in the establishment survey bring the rate of job growth over the last three months to just 135,000. This is well below the average of 184,000 a month over the last year.

The small drop in the unemployment rate was due to people leaving the labor force as employment in the household survey fell by 115,000. The employment-to-population ratio edged down to 58.6 percent, just 0.4 percentage points above the low for the downturn.

Government employment showed a rare gain of 17,000 driven by a jump in employment in local education of 20,100. This is likely a seasonal adjustment issue also, as there was a similar jump last year that was reversed in October. Employment in local education is down by more than 200,000 from its peak in 2008. One big job loser this month was the motion picture industry, which lost 22,200 jobs, 5.7 percent of total employment.

Job growth continued to be narrowly concentrated with retail adding 44,000 jobs, health care 32,700 and restaurants 21,200. The jump in health care employment follows three months in which growth averaged just 13,600, so growth is not likely to continue at this pace. Manufacturing added 14,000 jobs driven by a rise of 18,800 jobs in autos. This increase is mostly a seasonal-adjustment issue since the auto sector reported a loss of 10,400 last month. However jobs in the sector are up by 24,300 over the last year. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/18656-economy-added-169000-jobs-in-august-but-downward-revisions-cloud-picture