August payrolls grew 169,000 pre-Katrina

[ECH1969]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers added 169,000 workers to their payrolls last month and the jobless rate fell unexpectedly to 4.9 percent, its lowest level since August 2001, a reminder of the economy's vigor before Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast.

While August's job-creation tally fell slightly short of the 190,000 gain expected by Wall Street, the Labor Department said on Friday job growth in June and July was stronger than previously thought, bumping up the tally for those two months by a combined 44,000.

Job gains in August were broad-based, although factory employment slipped by 14,000 - the third consecutive monthly decline. Over the past year, the manufacturing sector has shed 110,000 workers.

The storm surge that breeched levees in low-lying New Orleans and battered other towns along the coast brought with it a sea change in expectations for further interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2005-09-02T123336Z_01_ROB245227_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-ECONOMY-USA-JOBS-DC.XML
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The job market is going to collapse after Katrina.

[still_one]

1. and how many jobs were lost?

[WCGreen]

3. It will have a ripple effect until they can get money into

the hands of the population.....

[livetohike]

2. Whatever happened to the "robust economy" that was going

to produce 300,000 jobs per month? This anemic job growth is being touted as a great economy?

[WCGreen]

4. Barely keeping pace with the new people entering

the job force....

[drdtroit]

5. This is nonsense!

Knowing the way this administration operates these figures are no doubt just pulled out of their ass!
They must be counting the contractors they send to IRAQ.

[Ravenseye]

6. How many jobs need to be created to keep up with population growth?

I thought it was over 200,000 a month. Wouldn't that mean that even though jobs were added, more people can't find jobs?

[auburngrad82]

7. well, now we have about half a million to add to the unemployed

as well as the homeless lists.

[Catt03]

8. Need to check the stats on how many were service jobs

with no insurance and near minimum wage and temporary.

Probably all WalMart employed.

[AX10]

9. BULL!

[0rganism]

10. 169k? That's pretty close to the breakeven rate

i.e., the growth in labor demand equal to the growth in working-age population. Adquate, but hardly spectacular.

[melody]

11. Media whore bilge n/t