The labor market continued to struggle in August, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published on Tuesday. The hiring rate in August—or, the number of hires as a share of total employment—dipped slightly from the prior month, down to just 3.2 percent.
Barring June 2024 and the onset of pandemic shutdowns in April 2020, the last time the hiring rate was so dire was during the Great Recession era, when unemployment exceeded 7 percent, observed economist Heather Long, who wrote on X that the “anemic” figure shows the job market is “frozen.”
“Americans feel stuck,” Long said. “And it appears to be getting worse.”
The number of available jobs in August, 7.2 million, was relatively unchanged from the previous month.
Tuesday’s figures, published in the BLS’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, may be the last data we get from the agency for some time, thanks to a looming government shutdown.
BLS is supposed to issue its August jobs report, or the Employment Situation Summary, on Friday, after a delay from last week due to a “data quality issue,” per Axios. But it will be delayed further if Congress does not reach a funding deal and the government accordingly shuts down, as is expected, at midnight.
The disruption would pose a problem for the Federal Reserve, policymakers, economists, businesses, and others who rely on the report for a comprehensive view of the economy.
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