Hiring by America’s employers picked up a bit in August from July’s sluggish pace, according to the Associated Press, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time since March in a sign that the job market may be cooling but remains sturdy.
Employers added 142,000 jobs last month, up from just 89,000 in July, the Labor Department said today. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% from 4.3% in July, which had been the highest level in nearly three years.
Collectively, today’s figures depict a job market slowing under the pressure of high interest rates but still growing. Many employers are responding to the resilience of consumers, who stepped up their spending in July, even after adjusting for inflation. A survey of service sector companies, including banks, restaurants, and health care providers, found that their sales and hiring both rose.
The labor market is now in an unusual place: Jobholders are mostly secure, with layoffs low, historically speaking. Yet with the pace of hiring weakened, landing a job has become harder.
In the meantime, inflation is steadily falling back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, opening the door for the Fed to cut its key interest rate from a 23-year high. Today’s report makes it likely that the central bank will announce a quarter-point rate cut when it next meets Sept. 17–18.
Substantial rate cuts by the Fed could spur some companies to start hiring more quickly, some labor market experts say.
