Last week’s jobs report came in better than expected with employers adding 315,000 jobs in August, but surprisingly the unemployment rate moved up slightly to 3.7%. While that may seem contradictory, the reason is that the more people are entering the workforce. This week’s chart shows that the U.S. civilian workforce has now returned to pre-pandemic levels. While the unemployment rate is likely to continue move up in the coming months, the recent report shows that the labor market continues to be strong despite the Fed rate hikes and high inflation.
Source: Bloomberg