August job numbers tapered off increasing some 315,000 new positions down over 200K from July, according the latest Labor Department figures. (This is still above the 130-150,000 estimated increase needed on a monthly basis to stay-up with growing demographics). The non-seasonally adjusted construction unemployment went up to 3.9 percent in August, consistent with seasonal work trends. [The new figure is up 0.4 basis points vs. July ‘22 level; while being down by 0.7 points from last August 2021]. Employment in construction began to wane, down by 60,000 in August from last month’s numbers.    

The general unemployment increased 0.2 to 3.7 percent. (“Unemployed persons” was up 0.3 to 6.0 million per the government count). The “labor force participation rate” rose three tenths to 62.4 percent. [NOTE: The “labor force participation” rate “typically” works inversely to the overall unemployment figures. Meaning: as it deteriorates/gets worse or smaller, it actually is counted as improving unemployment (i.e., people leaving the workforce are no longer counted as unemployed by the DOL). The “employment to population ratio” experienced a slight increase of 0.1 to 60.1 percent. Average hourly earnings continued their long steady incremental climb, now standing at $27.68 for private sector production and nonsupervisory employees. 

SEE Workforce Statistics Chart for details.