Net Job Creation through August 2015

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysis of non-farm employment reported on Friday that 173,000 jobs were added in August which was slightly below Moody’s Analytics expectation. The number will likely be revised upward in subsequent months. June and July payrolls were revised higher by a combined 44,000. The unemployment rate, calculated from a different survey, fell to a new post-recession low of 5.1 percent, as unemployment and the civilian labor force both declined. Monthly job gains have averaged 212,000 per month in the first eight months of 2015. The three month moving average (3MMA) of gains through August was 221,000 which was down by 29,000 from July (Figure 1).