Unemployment in the US in August unexpectedly reached 3.7%

In the USA, a monthly report from the Ministry of Labor was released, which surprised market participants. 

According to recent data, in August the number of jobs in the US economy increased by 315 thousand. Experts on average expected an increase of 298 thousand. In July, according to the revised data, the indicator increased by 526 thousand, and not by 528 thousand, as previously reported. In the private sector, the number of jobs increased by 308 thousand, in the public sector – by 7 thousand.

At the same time, unemployment reached its highest in six months, which came as a surprise to analysts who did not expect changes (3.7% compared to 3.5% in July). 

A significant increase in the number of jobs was noted in the field of professional and business services (68 thousand), healthcare (48 thousand) and retail (44 thousand). In industry, their number increased by 22 thousand, in the leisure and hotel business – by 31 thousand.

The average hourly wage in the private sector in August increased by 0.3% compared to the previous month, to $32.36. In annual terms, the indicator increased by 5.2%.