The August jobs report delivered a major upside surprise, with the U.S. economy adding 162,000 jobs, more than double economists’ forecast of 65,000.
Unemployment held at 4.1%, while estimates for June and July were revised higher. CNN’s Matt Egan called it “good news on the economy” and said the report “did crush expectations.”
There was one notable weak spot. Information and finance lost more than 30,000 jobs combined. CNN’s Sara Sidner pointed out that these are high-paying jobs, while Egan raised the possibility that aggressive AI adoption in both sectors may be putting pressure on employment.
Watch the exchange below.
SIDNER: Breaking this morning: New data out, just out, showing the labor market surged last month. The number of jobs reported, more than double expectations, at 162,000, despite growing headwinds like rising energy prices due to the ongoing war with Iran. CNN‘s Matt Egan joining me now to break down what you‘re seeing in this report. All in all, this for job seekers is good news.”
EGAN: “Yeah, absolutely, Sara. Look, it‘s nice to be here on this Friday morning with some good news on the economy because yeah, this report, it did crush expectations. So, the forecast from economists was for a gain of just 65,000 jobs in August. But look at this: 162,000, as you mentioned, more than doubling the forecast. Unemployment rate was supposed to go up a tick, to 4.2. it didn‘t. It stayed at a low level of just 4.1%. And there were significant revisions in the positive direction for both June and July. In particular, July was originally reported as a small loss of jobs. But now, as this chart shows, there‘s been a small gain in jobs in July. This shows how volatile the trend has been month to month. There‘s been a few months of job loss over the last year, year and a half or so, but again, it‘s nice to see an increase. In fact, this was the most jobs the economy has added in a single month since March. So, where are the jobs? Well, that was another positive here, is that the job growth has been more widespread than in the past. Leisure and hospitality adding 62,000 jobs. That was mostly bars and restaurants. And that‘s a big improvement from July when there was this World Cup hangover and a significant amount of jobs that were lost. Government, 35,000. That‘s all schools, public schools, local government education significantly increased in jobs in August. And that likely reflects a bounce back, because in July there was job loss there, probably related to some shifts in school calendars and struggles to try to capture all of that in the BLS models. Health care only added 13,000. That‘s kind of a low number for that sector. That could reflect some changes on the immigration front. We should keep an eye on that. Information and finance, notably, those two sectors losing a combined more than 30,000. And those are sectors that are adopting — “
SIDNER: They’re high-paying jobs.
EGAN: They are high paying jobs and they’re jobs — these are industries that are adopting AI aggressively. So you got to wonder if that is in part reflecting some of the pressure on jobs because of AI. One last point for you. Wages. Wages, they were up 3.1%. Not a terrible number. However, that‘s actually a five-year low. This is a continued slowdown in wage growth. And that is well shy of the projected August inflation rate of 3.4. So, Sara, that means that for many workers, their paychecks are not going up as fast as prices.
