The August Jobs Report:

The August Jobs Report: 96,000 jobs were created vs. 125,000 estimated. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% after 368,000 Americans left the labor force. The labor force participation rate hit 63.5%, the lowest since September 1981. The June and July numbers were revised down a total of about 20,000 jobs. (More)

This "could" be a bad news is good news situations because the Fed gets together at the FOMC meeting next week to discuss QE3.

 

[James48843]

[h=1]This was actually the best August jobs report in six years...[/h]I'm not saying the numbers weren't disappointing, but check the facts: the 96K jobs added were the highest for any August since 2006. In the last two years of the Bush administration, the economy lost jobs in August -- in 2008, it lost more than 100K jobs...and remember, that was before the Great Recession began.

For some reason, August just seems to be a bad month for hiring. Not that we shouldn't be disappointed with these numbers, but a little perspective is called for at times.

 

[Guest]

Unemployment occurs when people are without jobs yet have actively sought work. The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labor force. The joblessness rate fell in August, but that was only the result of more individuals giving up their job search, according to economists. The careers report for the month was yet again bleak.