On September 4th, 2020 the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that August Non-Farm Payroll Employment rose by 1.4 million new jobs and the unemployment rate fell by 1.4.% to 8.4% (see full release here).
The unemployment rate drop was better than forecast and total job gains where about in-line with estimates. August represents the fourth 1 million+ job gain in as many months as the economy continues to recover from the March & April COVID-19 related business shutdowns.
Government employment saw gains of 344,000 reflecting 238,000 temporary workers hired for Census reporting. Other notable additions occurred in Retail Trade with 249,000 new jobs reported for August.
Net revisions to the June & July numbers decreased by 39,000. Average hourly earnings for all employees increased $0.11 to $29.47. The average workweek for all employees increased by 0.1 hours.
Total reported employment gains in May, June, July, and August are now 10.7 million, recouping over 48% of the 22 million job losses reported in March & April. Overall, employment numbers continue to improve as the economy slowly re-opens and heals from the COVID-19 shutdowns.
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