August 2018 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 3.9 percent
Jobs Created: 201,000
Employment and Unemployment
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The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent for August.
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The report shows an increase of 201,000 nonfarm jobs in August. Sectors with job gains include professional and business services (53,000), health care (33,000), and wholesale trade (22,000).
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This gain is in line with the average monthly job gain in the past 12 months of 196,000.
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The U.S. has created 1.654 million new jobs since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became law.
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The U-6 rate, a measure of unemployed and underemployed workers, fell to 7.4 percent, a 17-year low. By this measure, 12 million Americans are unemployed. They include people who are unemployed (6.2 million), want work but have not looked for a job recently (1.4 million), or are working part time because they cannot find full-time employment (4.4 million).
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The median length of unemployment was 9.1 weeks in August, down from 10.3 weeks a year ago.
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The number of long-term unemployed, those unemployed for 27 weeks or more, was 1.3 million, down 403,000 from a year ago. They account for 21.5 percent of the unemployed.
Labor Force Participation
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The labor force participation rate was 62.7 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from July. It remains below the pre-recession rate of 66 percent.
Wages
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In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents to $27.16. It is a 77-cent, or 2.9 percent, gain from a year ago.
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