U.S. Payrolls Increase by 315,000 in August

By Nathalie Voit

U.S. employers continued to hire briskly in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said in its latest jobs report.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 315,000 over the month, slightly below economists’ expectations for 318,000. This was the lowest monthly gain since last spring and far from the 526,000 jobs added in July.

The unemployment rate pulled slightly above estimates at 3.7%, up from 3.5% in July. The total unemployed increased by 344,000 to six million as the labor force participation rate climbed by three-tenths of a percentage point to 62.4%. BLS said the measure was still a full percentage point below its pre-pandemic reading on February 2020.  

Average hourly earnings for nonfarm private payroll employees increased by 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $32.36 in August. Average hourly wages have risen by 5.2% from one year ago.

Job growth was driven by hiring in the professional and business services, health care, and retail trade industries. Professional and business services added 68,000 jobs during the month, followed by health care at 48,000 and retail trade at 44,000.

Employment in leisure & hospitality remains little changed at 31,000. BLS noted that the industry saw average monthly job gains of 90,000 during the year’s first seven months. The sector is still short of 1.2 million jobs since February 2020.

Manufacturing employment continued to trend upward in August, with 22,000 new positions filled. Financial activities employment rose by 17,000, while employment in wholesale trade increased by 15,000.

The government said nonfarm employment has surged by 5.8 million over the past twelve months as the labor market continues to benefit from the post-pandemic economic recovery. However, total nonfarm employment remained 240,000 above its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.

Some 6.5% of employees nationwide continued to telework last month because of the coronavirus crisis, according to the economic release. Almost two million people reported working fewer hours or did not work at all in August due to the pandemic.