Key Takeaways From the US August Jobs Report

Summary

Bloomberg Economics chief US economist Anna Wong breaks down the US August jobs report. She argues that the headline payroll gain flatters underlying labor market weakness because of an unusually mild seasonal adjustment. The non-seasonally adjusted data suggest the true pace of job growth did not increase.

• US nonfarm payrolls rose 162,000 in August, beating all Bloomberg survey estimates.
• The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
• Anna Wong says the details are not as strong as the headline suggests.
• Non-seasonally adjusted job gains were about 154,000, compared with 200,000 last August.
• She attributes the higher seasonally adjusted figure to an unusually mild BLS seasonal adjustment.
• The underlying pace of job growth did not increase, according to Wong.