Blog
Payroll Losses Moderate; Unemployment Rate Hits 26-Year High
The official employment report said the economy shed 217,000 jobs in August, a slightly better figure than the consensus forecast of -230k. Historically that remains an awful print, but the trend has been in the right direction since the labor market lost 741,000 jobs in January.rnrn“The job losses are slowing in typical lagged fashion as the economy emerges from recession,†said Sal Guatieri from BMO Capital Markets. “But they remain sizable, and joblessness continues to mount, which will only make it harder for households to repay debt and build savings, thereby impeding a consumer-led recovery.â€
Investors Anxious to Know if Job Losses Moderated in August
The decline in July’s nonfarm payrolls was the smallest in 11 months, so the Employment Situation report for August should bring optimism to markets so long as the trend continues towards improvement. Judging by the data released so far, that looks far from being a certainty. The median forecast is that 230k jobs vanished in the month, a somewhat minor gain from the -247k print in July, and not all analysts are so optimistic; estimates range from -115k to -365k. rnrnThe -230k consensus has been revised from a -200k print earlier in the week, but two employment indicators were worse
Latest Articles
By John Gittelsohn August 24, 2020, 4:00 AM PDT Some of the largest real estate investors are walking away from Read More...
Late-Stage Delinquencies are SurgingAug 21 2020, 11:59AM Like the report from Black Knight earlier today, the second quarter National Delinquency Survey from the Read More...
Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscoIt was recently published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which is about as official as you can Read More...