Labor Market Update
Job Openings Fall
Happy Jobs Report Friday!
We analyzed today’s BLS job report and here is our summary of July’s labor trends.
Jobs opening fell to 8.827 million in July. There are now 1.51 jobs per unemployed individual. A rate of 1.1-1.2 jobs per unemployed individual is consistent with a market that does not exhibit inflationary pressure.
The Labor Force Participation Rate for women 16-64 hit an all time high in July reaching 73.1%. This is a positive sign, since women’s LFPR declined to 68.2 during the pandemic. The childcare shortage and increased childcare costs, have impacted women more severally and women’s labor force participation was slow to recover. While childcare costs still remain high, families are making adjustments.
Unemployment Rate for August was 3.8%. It was 3.5% in July.
Payroll employment increased by 187,000 new jobs created. Most of the jobs created were in healthcare (71,000) and hospitality (40,000).
Wages grew by 0.2% last month. The average wage is $33.82, that is 4.3% higher than it was 12 months ago.
