AP: July employment report showed US labor market stalled unexpectedly
Two U.S. labor-market releases are due this week.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS. The release provides industry-level detail on job openings and labor turnover, including layoffs and voluntary quits.
On Friday, BLS will issue the more closely watched monthly employment report for August, covering job growth, the unemployment rate, and public-sector employment across a wide range of industries.
The July monthly report, released earlier this month, showed the U.S. job market “stalled unexpectedly,” the AP reported. The AP also noted that employment had been a “mostly resilient area of the economy” in recent months and that “stubborn inflation continues to squeeze businesses and households, while consumer confidence weakens.”
The Tuesday JOLTS release will provide an industry-by-industry look at labor demand two business days before the headline payrolls figure.
The broader U-6 underemployment rate — which counts discouraged workers and those stuck in part-time roles who want full-time work — stood at 7.9% as of late August, according to FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data). That measure captures a wider slice of labor-market slack than the headline unemployment rate typically does.
With both reports scheduled within the same week, markets will receive the data in close succession: the JOLTS industry-level view of openings on Tuesday, followed by the broader monthly employment numbers on Friday.