The post-pandemic boom in hiring appears to be over, and businesses are adding fewer workers. Is the slowdown in employment going to continue? The United States is expected to add 170,000 jobs in September, keeping the increase below 200,000 for the fourth month in a row. The last time that happened was in 2018.
Even those small increases, however, have been enough to soak up all the new people entering the labor market each month. Federal Reserve officials believe the economy needs no more than 75,000 to 100,000 jobs a month. Anything more than that could exacerbate the worst labor shortage since World War II, drive wages up and make it harder for the Fed to get inflation under control.