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US Employment Rate
Hiring by America's employers picked up a bit in August from July's sluggish pace, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time since March in a sign that the job market may be cooling but remains sturdy. Employers added 142,000 jobs last month, up from a scant 89,000 in July, the Labour Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2 per cent from 4.3 per cent in July, which had been the highest level in nearly three years. Collectively, Friday's figures depict a job market slowing under the pressure of high interest rates but still growing. Many employers are responding to the resilience of consumers, who stepped up their spending in July, even after adjusting for inflation. With inflation falling steadily back to the Federal Reserve's 2 per cent target, the Fed is preparing to cut its key interest rate from a 23-year high. Friday's mixed report on the job market raises the question of how large a cut the Fed will announce after it meets September 17-18.
More Americans filed for jobless claims last week, but the labour market remains broadly healthy in the face of retreating inflation and elevated interest rates. Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 13,000 to 231,000 for the week ending November 11, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That's the most in three months. Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week. The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose by 7,750 to 220,250. Overall, 1.87 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Nov. 4, about 32,000 more than the previous week and the most since March. Analysts suggest that those so-called continuing claims, are steadily rising because many of those who are already unemployed may now be having a harder time finding new work. Still, the American labour market continues to show resiliency in the midst of the Federal Reserve's campaign to get inflation back down