Passersby walk near Times Square in New York, the United States, Sept. 1, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
As the U.S. Federal Reserve ramps up its fight against surging inflation, the strong job market may be about to take a turn for the worse.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. employers added 315,000 jobs in August amid a still tight labor market, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 3.7 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care and retail trade, according to the report released by the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The August employment report showed that the labor force participation rate increased 0.3 percentage point over the month to 62.4 percent, still 1.0 percentage point below its pre-pandemic level.
The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job declined by 361,000 to 5.5 million in August. This measure is above its February 2020 level of 5.0 million.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 32.36 U.S. dollars in August, the BLS report showed. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 5.2 percent.
Vehicles run on a road in Foster City, California, the United States, Aug. 25, 2022. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua)
Another report from the Labor Department released earlier this week showed that the number of job openings in the United States rose to 11.2 million by the end of July, indicating that hiring demand remains strong.
With the increase in job openings, there were nearly two job positions per available worker, signaling a widening imbalances between labor market supply and demand.
As the U.S. Federal Reserve ramps up its fight against surging inflation, the strong job market may be about to take a turn for the worse.
"Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth. Moreover, there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in his annual policy speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last week.
Acknowledging the "unfortunate costs" of reducing inflation, Powell, however, stressed that "a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain." ■