Employment Situation
This morning’s big news was the release of August’s governmental Employment report at 8:30 AM ET. It revealed the U.S. unemployment rate rose from 4.2% to 4.3% last month, matching expectations but touching its highest level since late 2021 . The economy added only 22,000 new jobs during the month, falling short of the 78,000 payroll number that was predicted. Average hourly earnings also showed no surprise with a 0.3% increase last month. On an annual basis, earnings slowed from July’s rate of 3.9% to 3.7% in August.