Highlights of the August 2019 non-farm payrolls report:
- Prior was +164K (revised to +159K)
- Estimates ranged from +110K to +232K
- Two month net revision -20K
- Unemployment rate 3.7% vs 3.7% expected (prior 3.7%)
- Participation rate 63.2% vs 63.0% prior
- Avg hourly earnings +0.4% vs +0.3% exp
- Avg hourly earnings +3.2% y/y vs +3.0% exp
- Prior avg hourly earnings 3.2% (revised to 3.3%)
- Avg weekly hours 34.4 vs 34.4 exp
- Private payrolls +96K vs +150K exp
- Manufacturing +3K vs +5K expected
- U6 underemployment 7.2% vs 7.0% prior
This isn't such a bad number. The two tick rise in participation combined with steady unemployment is a good sign and the rise in wage growth is good sign.
The average over the past three months is +156K so this is a decent number, albeit a bit soft on the private side and census hiring added 25K jobs so that saved it from being even softer.
