The unemployment rate in the United States rose three tenths in August and stood at 3.8 percentaccording to data published this Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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The net creation of new jobs this month remained at a figure similar to that registered last month, 187,000 jobs, data that is below the average for the last twelve months, 271,000, and which confirms the slowdown in the labor market as a result of the rise in interest rates.
The new jobs were in the health care sectors, which added 71,000 new jobs in August; leisure and hospitality (40,000 new jobs); social assistance (26,000), and construction (22,000).
With these data, the number of unemployed people increased by 514,000 and stood at 6.4 million in August. The slowdown in job creation that has been taking place in recent months is a sign that the job market is cooling off, a situation that is in line with the Federal Reserve’s goals (Fed), which has carried out eleven rate hikes in the last year and a half to reduce inflation.
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The US central bank decided in July to resume raising interest rates, after a pause in June, with an increase of 0.25 percentage points, in such a way that they came to stand in a range between 5.25% and 5.5%, reaching its highest level since 2001.
In his last public intervention, in the framework of the forum that the big central banks celebrate in Jackson Hole (Wyoming), the president of the Fed, Jerome Powell, He affirmed that the regulator will continue to maintain high rates until inflation is controlled, although he opened the door to a possible pause in the increases.
“In the next meetings we will evaluate our progress based on the totality of the economic data and the evolution of the outlook and risks. Based on this evaluation, we will proceed with caution when deciding whether to tighten monetary policy further or, instead, we maintain the rate,” he said.
Powell explained that to decide whether to raise rates at their next meeting that will take place on September 19 and 20, both inflation data and unemployment figures will be taken into account. According to economists, the rise in the unemployment rate and the slowdown in job creation could tip the balance of the Fed towards a pause in rate hikes.
EFE
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