Hiring slowed sharply last month, even as the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%. Data from the Labor Department suggest the economy was losing steam even before the appearance of a new COVID-19 variant.
U.S. employers added 531,000 new jobs as the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%. Millions of would-be workers are still on the sidelines, though, leaving the pace of the recovery in doubt.
The Fed is expected to leave interest rates near zero on Wednesday but is likely to start removing some of the support it has provided to the economy as inflation hits its highest point in 30 years.
With such large swathes of the American labor force leaving their jobs, the scales of power are tipping in the directions of workers. Here's how employers can entice and keep them.
The Labor Department says the U.S. added just 194,000 jobs last month, even lower than the lackluster showing in August. The unemployment rate fell to 4.8%.
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Hiring slowed in August as a surge in new coronavirus infections weighed on the economic recovery. Employers added just 235,000 jobs last month, a sharp drop from June and July.
Enhanced unemployment benefits launched during the pandemic expire next week, cutting a vital lifeline for millions of jobless Americans. Research suggests most will not find work right away.
Employers hired more than 1.8 million workers in June and July. But millions of others are still on the sidelines. That's leading to long wait times and is forcing some businesses to turn down orders.
As the U.S. economy continues to rebound from the pandemic recession, lots of people are going back to work — but not as quickly as many employers would like. Employers added 943,00 jobs in June.
Average wages for nonmanagers at restaurants and bars hit $15 an hour in May, but many say no amount of pay would get them to return. They are leaving at the highest rate in decades.
The Fed is maintaining its easy money policies for now in an effort to speed the economic recovery. It left interest rates near zero despite a jump in consumer prices.
U.S. employers added 559,000 jobs last month, as the unemployment rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1% in April. Employers say they could use even more workers as demand surges and pandemic fears recede.
Millions of women who lost their jobs in the pandemic have yet to return to work, even though the economy has improved. What's keeping them back is a mix of factors that may not be resolved quickly.
Millions of women have left the workforce during the pandemic as schools stopped in-person learning. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says the recovery hinges on women returning to work.
The U.S. economy grew at a rapid pace in the first three months of the year as more people got vaccinated and the federal government pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into people's pockets.
The Paycheck Protection Program, which provided emergency loans to small businesses amid the pandemic, will wind down soon. Economists are divided on whether it saved enough jobs to justify its cost.
Although the overall jobs market is starting to come back, youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, creating a lot of anxiety among the latest class of college and high school seniors.
