Weekly Economic Update: September 7-11, 2015
LAST WEEK
News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:
- Wall Street Journal: ECB Ready to Expand Stimulus Programs (Thursday)
- Market Watch: Fed’s Beige Book Finds Wage Pressure and China, Dollar Concerns (Wednesday)
- Market Watch: Opinion: Workers Don’t Do Better in Unions (Wednesday)
- E21: Twenty-Five Basis Points That Could Shake the World (Tuesday)
- Wall Street Journal: The EPA’s Next Big Economic Chokehold (Tuesday)
Top Economic Indicator Highlights:
Employment Situation (August 2015)
- Unemployment rate: 5.1%
- Long-term unemployed (% of unemployed): 27.7%
- Labor force participation rate: 62.6%
- Employment-to-population ratio: 59.4%
- Nonfarm payroll jobs: 173,000
- Private payrolls: 140,000
- Average workweek: 34.6 hours
- Largest industry sector decrease (by level): Manufacturing (-0.1%, -17,000)
- Largest industry sector increase (by level): Health care and social assistance (+0.3%, +56,000)
- Noteworthy: In the household survey, the long-term unemployed as a share of the unemployed ticked up 0.8 percentage point from 26.9%. The labor force participation rate remained at a post-recession low for the third consecutive month. The establishment survey’s nonfarm payrolls for June and July were revised up. June nonfarm payrolls were revised to 245,000 jobs added from 231,000; July nonfarm payrolls were revised up to 245,000 from 215,000.
THIS WEEK
Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:
Major Indicators
- Consumer Credit (3pm, Tuesday)
- Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (10am, Wednesday)
- Quarterly Services Survey (10am, Wednesday)
- Wholesale Trade (10am, Thursday)
- Producer Price Index for Final Demand (8:30am, Friday)
- Treasury Budget (2pm, Friday)
Chart of the Week:
Total construction spending hit a new post-recession high in July, rising 0.7% over the month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.083 trillion, boosted by spending in recent months and is the highest since May 2008.
