Manufacturing and construction sectors were responsible for more than a third of August’s net job creation. Here are the five things we learned from U.S. economic data released during the week ending September 1.
Employers added fewer workers during August while wage growth momentum sputtered. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 156,000 workers during the month following gains of 189,000 and 210,000 during July and June, respectively. The number of jobs created during August reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was below the average monthly job gains over the past year of 174,750. The private sector added 165,000 jobs during the month, split between 70,000 in the goods producing side of the economy and 95,000 in the service sector. Industries adding the most workers during the month were professional/business services (+40,000 jobs), manufacturing (+36,000, including 13,700 in motor vehicle manufacturing), construction (+28,000), and health care/social assistance (+16,600). The average work week totaled 34.4 hours, off 1/10th of an hour from July but 1/10th of an hour from a year earlier. Average hourly earnings grew by a mere three cents during the month to $26.39 (+2.5 percent versus August 2016). Average weekly earnings of $907.82 was off $1.60 from July but remained percent above a year ago levels.
A separate survey of households has the unemployment rate edging up 1/10th of a percentage point to a still low 4.4 percent. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent. 77,000 people entered the labor force during the month, leaving the labor force participation rate at 62.9 percent (August 2016: 62.8 percent). The median length of unemployment slipped by 1/10th of a week to 10.5 weeks (August 2016: 10.9 weeks) while the count of “involuntary” part-time workers–these are part-timers seeking a full-time job–shrank by 27,000 to 5.255 million (August 2016: 6.027 million). Finally, the BLS’s broadest measure of labor underutilization (U-6 series) held firm during the month at 8.6 percent. A year earlier, the same measure was at 9.7 percent.
The U.S. economy expanded more quickly than previously believed during Q2. The Bureau of Economic Analysis raised its estimate of second quarter 2017 annualized growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from a 2.7 percent gain, as reported a month ago, to a 3.0 percent increase. This represents the fastest pace of economic growth since Q2 2015. The upward revision was the product of higher than previously believed levels of consumption and nonresidential fixed investment (although government expenditures were lower than previously thought). By far the biggest contributor to Q2’s economic expansion was personal consumption expenditures, which added 228 basis points to the quarter’s GDP growth. Also adding to GDP growth were nonresidential fixed investment (adding 85 basis points), exports (adding 45 basis points), federal government spending (adding 13 basis points) and the change in private inventories (adding two basis points). Drags on Q2 economic growth were fixed residential investment (costing 26-basis points in growth), imports (costing 23 basis points), and state/local government spending (costing 18 basis points). Corporate profits (with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments) grew 1.3 percent during the quarter to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of $2.136 trillion. This had followed a 2.1 percent drop during Q1 and was up 7.0 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.
Personal spending grew at a moderate pace in July. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) grew 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, matching June’s gain but slower than May’s 0.3 percent increase. Consumers increased their real spending on goods by 0.4 percent and that on services by 0.2 percent. The former was split by a 0.8 percent spending increase on durable goods and a 0.3 percent bump in nondurables spending. Over the past year, real PCE has increased 2.7 percent, split between gains for goods and services spending of 3.6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Without adjustments for inflation, nominal PCE grew 0.3 percent, supported by a 0.4 percent increase in nominal personal income and a 0.3 percent gain in nominal disposable personal income. Real personal income increased 0.2 percent during July after having been unchanged in June. Real disposable income has grown by 1.3 percent over the past year. The savings rate slipped by 1/10th of a percentage point to +3.5 percent.
Purchasing managers report higher manufacturing sector activity in August. The PMI from the Institute for Supply Management increased by 2.5 points during the month to a seasonally adjusted reading of 58.8. This was the 12th straight month in which the measure was above a reading of 50.0 (indicative of an expanding manufacturing sector) and its highest reading since April 2011. Four of the five components of the PMI improved during the month: inventories (up 5.5 points to 55.5), employment (up 4.7 points to 59.9), supplier deliveries (up 1.7 points to 57.1), and production (up 4/10ths of a point to 61.0). The new orders index slipped by 1/10th of a point to 60.3. Fourteen of 18 tracked manufacturing industries expanded during the month, led by textiles, petroleum/coal products, and machinery. The press release said that survey respondents’ comments had reflected “expanding business conditions.”
Consumers grew more confident during August. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index added 2.9 points during the month to seasonally adjusted 122.9. This was the index’s second straight monthly increase and its best reading since March (which had been its 16-year high). Indices for present and expected business conditions both grew during the month: the former up 5.8 points to 151.2 and the latter increasing by a full point to 104.0. 34.5 percent of survey respondents described current economic conditions as “good” while 13.1 percent said that they were “bad.” Looking towards the future, 22.4 percent of consumer expect business conditions will improve over the next six months while 7.3 percent anticipate conditions will deteriorate. The press release said the data suggest consumers “do not anticipate an acceleration in the pace of economic activity in the months ahead.”
The Index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan grew by 3.4 points during August to a seasonally adjusted 96.8. This placed the index seven full points above its year ago reading. The increase in the headline index resulted largely from the 7.2 point gain in the Index of Consumer Expectations (+9.0 points versus August 2016). The Current Economic Conditions index shed 2.5 points to 110.9 (+3.9 points versus August 2016). The press release notes that the headline index “has been higher during the first eight months of 2017 than in any year since 2000, which was the peak year of the longest expansion in U.S. history.” The press release also stated that current news events are not weighing significantly on sentiment as “surprisingly few consumers made any reference to Charlottesville, North Korea or Harvey—although the ultimate extent of the damage from Harvey was unknown at the time of the last interviews.”
Other U.S. economic data released over the past week:
– Jobless Claims (week ending August 26, 2017, First-Time Claims, seasonally adjusted): 236,000 (+1,000 vs. previous week; -24,000 vs. the same week a year earlier). 4-week moving average: 236,750 (-9.3% vs. the same week a year earlier).
– Construction Spending (July 2017, Value of Construction Put into Place, seasonally adjusted annualized rate): $1.212 trillion, (-0.6% vs. June 2017, +1.8% vs. July 2016).
– Vehicle Sales (August 2017, Light Vehicle Retail Sales, seasonally adjusted annualized rate): 16.14 million units (-3.7% vs. July 2017, -6.3% vs. August 2016).
– Agricultural Prices (July 2017, Prices Received by Farmers (Index (2011=100)), seasonally adjusted): 95.3 (-2.9% vs. June 2017, +5.3% vs. July 2016).
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What We Learned About the U.S. Economy Last Week 