US Labor Force Participation Rate Climbs Amid Ongoing Economic Slowdown
The US labor market showed signs of stabilization in August, with the labor force participation rate ticking up to 61.6% from July's five-year low of 61.4%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the civilian labor force grew by 683,000 people to a total of 169.777 million.
The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%, while nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 jobs during the month. However, the participation rate is still down 0.7 percentage points year-over-year, and has fallen 0.5 percentage points since January.
Long-term unemployment remains a concern, with 27% of all unemployed people having been jobless for 27 weeks or longer. August's job gains were led by food services and local government education, but the information sector shed jobs during the month.