Job seekers attend a job fair in Sunrise, Fl., on June 26, 2024. Employers added only 114,000 jobs last month, well below expectations, raising fears about the economy.
Consumer spending is the biggest driver of the overall economy, so any significant drop in buying power could lead to a more widespread economic slowdown., which showed new orders and factory output shrinking in July. That triggered a stock market selloff on Thursday, which continued on Friday. But construction companies — which are typically sensitive to high borrowing costs — continued to hire at a rapid clip, adding 25,000 jobs in July.The weaker-than-expected jobs report sparked fresh worries that the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates too high for too long in its effort to curb inflation.on Wednesday — at the highest level in more than two decades — but signaled that it could begin cutting interest rates at its next meeting in September.