Slowdown Looms: US Hiring Cools After Strong August
US hiring cooled down after August's strong gain, according to economists surveyed ahead of Friday's September employment report. They expect around 90,000 nonfarm payroll jobs to have been added last month, a significant step down from the 162,000 positions created in August, with the unemployment rate projected to remain at 4.1 percent.
The pattern is consistent with what several analysts describe as a low-hire, low-fire market. KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk has argued that payroll growth is losing altitude without the labor market having stalled, leaving less margin for error if demand weakens further.
Wage growth has also cooled down; average hourly earnings were running near 3.1 percent year over year in August, lagging consumer prices. The gap between pay and prices is central to the wider outlook.