Health care, other sectors add jobs as overall unemployment dips from July to August

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Health care hiring slowed even as ambulatory health care services and hospitals added jobs in August, according to the latest federal figures.

Overall unemployment was 4.2% last month with an estimated 7.1 million people out of work, down a bit from the 4.3% rate of July, with the U.S. economy adding 142,000 new jobs, according to the August unemployment figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In year-on-year comparison, the figures were higher than July 2023, when unemployment was at 3.8% with 6.3 million unemployed people.

Health care jobs

The health care sector added about 30,900 jobs in August, or about half the monthly gain of 60,000 new positions over the prior 12 months.

Ambulatory health services grew by 23,900 workers and hospitals added 9,600 new staff, according to BLS. Doctors were hiring too, responsible for 7,100 new positions in August, while offices of other health practitioners grew by 8,100 workers.

Home health care services added 5,500 new workers; outpatient care centers grew by 1,700 employees, and medical and diagnostic laboratories were stable. Offices of dentists dipped by 1,000 workers, while nursing and residential care facilities decreased by 2,600 employees and skilled nursing care facilities lost 3,600 positions, according to the BLS figures.

Other sectors

In other sectors, construction grew by 34,000 jobs, more than the average monthly gain of 19,000 workers over the last 12 months. Social assistance positions grew by 13,000, slower than the average monthly gain of 21,000 in the last year, while manufacturing lost 24,000 jobs. BLS listed other major sectors as stable, showing little change from July to August.

Analysts react

Reuters reported a surge in immigration is partially to blame for pushing the unemployment rate from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April 2023. The national economy needs to create 145,000 to 200,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth, that report said.

Market watchers have been pondering and predicting the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its meeting this month.

"The labor market is cooling at a measured pace," LPL Chief Economist Jeffrey Roach said in the Reuters report. "Businesses are still adding to payrolls but not as indiscriminately. The Fed will likely cut by 25 basis points and reserve the right to be more aggressive in the last two meetings of the year."

CNN cited Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments in August from the Fed’s economic symposium held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At the time, Powell hinted that interest rate cuts are coming, and on Sept. 6, CNN reported Fed Governor Christopher Waller said: “I believe the time has come to lower the target range for the federal funds rate at our upcoming meeting.”

In a commentary, CNN analyst David Goldman noted “a few years ago, America was in the middle of a historic inflation crisis,” with consumer prices spiking 9% a year.

The Fed raised interest rates, and that had the intended effect of slowing down the U.S. economy. While the job market is stressed, it appears the interest rates have led to a “soft landing” instead of a full-on recession, Goldman’s analysis said.

White House response

The report came out four days after Labor Day, and President Joe Biden this week touted his administration’s executive order to promote good jobs through the “Investing in America Agenda.” His statement on the BLS jobs report noted the drop in consumer prices.

“With inflation back down close to normal levels, it is important to focus on sustaining the historic gains we have made for American workers,” the president’s statement said.

“The last thing we should do is turn back to the failed trickle-down economics pushed by Congressional Republicans, like cutting taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, raising taxes on middle class families by nearly $4,000 per year, or cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act,” he added.