(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Employers probably added more workers in August and the jobless rate held at a more than four-year low, signalling a strengthening US labour market that will help sustain growth, economists said before a report this week.
Payrolls rose by 180,000 workers following a 162,000 gain the prior month, according to the median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Labour Department figures on September 6. Manufacturing probably cooled after expanding in July at the fastest pace in two years, other data may show.
Faster hiring and income gains will help underpin consumer spending and allow the world's largest economy to better weather the lingering effects of higher taxes and federal budget cuts. Federal Reserve policy-makers are watching the job market as they debate scaling back monthly bond purchases meant to stimulate growth and cut unemployment.
"We're on track for a pretty solid payrolls report for August," said Brian Jones, a senior US economist at Societe Generale in New York. "It goes hand in hand with the improving economy." Reports last week showed a mixed picture. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.5 per cent annual rate in the second quarter, up from the 1.7 per cent pace previously estimated, and the MNI Chicago Report's measure of business activity grew in August for a fourth consecutive month. In other data, consumer spending rose less than forecast in July, and consumer sentiment dropped in August from a six-year high.
Shares drop
Stocks in August suffered their worst month since May 2012 as investors reacted to the possibility of an American military response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 3.1 per cent last month to close at 1,632.97 points on Friday. US exchanges are closed today for the Labour Day holiday.
The jobs report may show the unemployment rate, derived from a separate Labour Department survey of households than the payrolls tally, held in August at 7.4 per cent, the lowest since December 2008, according to the Bloomberg survey. Overall payroll gains so far this year have averaged 192,430 a month, up from 180,330 in the second half of 2012.
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