August jobs report expected to show the US labor market continues to cool off

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Yahoo Finance

August jobs report expected to show the US labor market continues to cool off

Josh Schafer • Reporter
Thu, August 31, 2023 at 11:57 AM EDT

The August jobs report is set for release Friday morning and should show growth in the US labor market continued to slow. ... The monthly labor report from the BLS is set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET and is expected show nonfarm payrolls in August rose by 170,000 while the unemployment rate remains steady at 3.5%, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg. In July, the US economy added 187,000 jobs while unemployment ticked down to 3.5%.

Here are the key numbers Wall Street will be looking at, according to data from Bloomberg:

• Nonfarm payrolls: +170,000 vs. 187,000 previously

• Unemployment rate: 3.5% vs. 3.5% previously

• Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.3%, +0.4% previously

• Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +4.3%, +4.4% previously

• Average weekly hours worked: 34.3

"Big data indicators indicate solid but generally slowing job growth, and August payrolls have exhibited a negative bias in the initial prints (subsequently revised higher in each of the last the last five years)," Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius wrote in a note ahead of the report. "Our forecast also embeds a 26K one-time drag from the combination of Hollywood worker strikes (-18K) and Yellow trucking layoffs (-8K)."

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New data from ADP released Wednesday showed private employers added 177,000 jobs in August, a significant slowdown from the 371,000 jobs added in July. On Tuesday, the latest Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, showed job openings in July fell below 9 million for the first time in more than two years. To top it off, a consumer confidence survey revealed Americans are feeling more wary about the labor market.

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Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.