The
US economy added 142,000 jobs in August, latest figures from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics reveal, missing expectations.
The
unemployment rate dipped to 6.1% from 6.2% in July.
The
world's largest economy had been averaging a monthly jobs gain of 212,000 in
the previous 12 months.
Part
of the sluggish jobs growth was attributed to a loss of 17,000 food and
beverage jobs as a result of a supermarket store strike.
Thousands
of employees of the Market Basket chain of supermarkets in the northeastern US
had gone on strike in July to protest the
firing of their boss. The dispute was
resolved late last week.
US
markets did not react strongly to the news, with all three indexes dipping just
slightly lower in early morning trading in New York.
Bright spots
There
were some bright spots in the August jobs report: wage growth, a crucial sign
of the strength of the US economy, ticked up slightly.
Average
hourly earnings are now growing at 2.1% year over year. US Federal Reserve
chair Janet Yellen has previously indicated that wages are a crucial factor in
the Fed's analysis of the state of the health of the US jobs market.
Employment
in the car industry also dipped less than expected, as fewer workers were laid
off for factory retooling.
Jobs
growth in the professional and business services also continued to lead the
recovery, with an additional 47,000 jobs adding in August, bringing the yearly
total to 639,000.
"Disappointing"
was how the jobs figure was described by a number of analysts. Employment
growth was sharply below the previous six months.
It
was not much better than what's needed to keep up with the growth in the
working age population.
There
are other features of the US labour market that suggest it is still weaker than
what's implied by the moderately low headline unemployment rate.
The
numbers of people who want to work longer hours or have been unemployed for
more than six months are unusually high.
The
new figures will reinforce the reluctance of the Federal Reserve chief Janet
Yellen to move soon to raise official interest rates from the current very low
level of close to zero.
'Wind out of the sails'
Most
analysts believe that the sluggish August figure will give central bankers
pause for thought as they consider when to end the Fed's extraordinary support
of the US economy.
The
central bank is scheduled to meet on 16-17 September.
Many
have wondered whether or not so-called "hawks", who favour increasing
interest rates, would be able to persuade other members of the committee to
move forward the bank's plans to raise interest rates from their historically
low levels of 0%.
"This
should take some wind out of the sails for the [Federal Open Market Committee]
hawks," wrote investment bank Jefferies economists' in a note to clients.
BBC Business
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