WASHINGTON — The nation’s employers added 187,000 jobs in August, evidence of a slowing but still-resilient labor market despite the high interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed.
Indeed, the proportion of Americans who either have a job or are looking for one rose in August to 62.8%, the highest level since February 2020, before COVID-19 slammed into the U.S. economy.A decelerating job market could help shift the economy into a slower gear and reassure the Fed that inflation will continue to ease. The central bank’s streak of 11 interest rate hikes has helped slow inflation from a peak of 9.1% last year to 3.2% now.
“This is close to what the Fed wants to see,’’ said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. The August jobs report"could be a way to a soft landing.” By contrast, trucking companies shed 37,000 jobs, reflecting the shutdown of the Yellow trucking company. And music and movie companies lost 17,000, a drop that the Labor Department attributed to striking Hollywood actors and writers.
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