US economy added 142,000 jobs in August | CNN Business

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The US labor market picked back up in August after a surprisingly weak jobs report the month before.

Employers added an estimated 142,000 jobs last month, marking stronger growth than July’s worrisome low number — which was revised down from 114,000 to 89,000 — according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3%.

Economists were expecting a net gain of 160,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to fall to 4.2%, according to FactSet consensus estimates.

August’s total lands in line with the job growth seen during the past three months. But is markedly lower than the average monthly gain of 202,000 during the past 12 months.

The labor market has cooled considerably during the past year — a wholly expected development as the demand and supply of workers get back into better balance after the seismic shock of the Covid-19 pandemic — however, concerns have increased in recent months that job growth isn’t just slowing, but deteriorating.

July’s shockingly weak jobs report stoked fears that the jobs market was collapsing, potentially taking the economy into a downturn.

Although July’s gains were revised even lower and June’s were slashed by 61,000 to 118,000, August’s report came in comparably solid and stronger.

However, considering the revisions and the fact that August’s monthly total was below expectations, Friday’s report doesn’t yet provide a clear signal for the outlook of the labor market or the economy.

“Today’s jobs report demonstrates that this summer’s ‘Great Waiting Game’ has continued, with both employers and employees holding out for proof of improvement versus speculation of forecasts,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America.

This story is developing and will be updated.