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Tommy Duncan
09-03-2004, 10:34 AM
quote.bloomberg.com/apps/...efer=home# (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aTD6qJFif01c&refer=home#)

U.S. August Payrolls Rose 144,000; Jobless Rate Falls (Update2)

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. employers added 144,000 workers to payrolls in August, the most since May and the first acceleration in five months, suggesting the economy is emerging from a midyear lull. The unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent.

The increase follows a revised gain of 73,000 in July that was more than twice the number estimated last month. Manufacturing employment rose 22,000 and the jobless rate declined from 5.5 percent in July.

``This is reassuring,'' said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. in New York, whose prediction for August matched the median of 150,000 in a Bloomberg News survey. ``The surge of growth that we had over the past year is resolving itself into a slower pace of growth, but growth nonetheless.''

The job rebound may help President George W. Bush deflect criticism about the economy heading into the last two months of the campaign. More hiring may bolster expectations Federal Reserve policy makers will raise their interest rate target by a quarter percentage point for a third time this year on Sept. 21.

Today's report is ``very consistent with the notion that the Fed wants to remove accommodation and normalize interest rates at a `measured pace,''' Soss said.

U.S. Treasury's 4 1/4 percent note maturing in August 2014 fell 5/32 point, pushing up the yield 2 basis points to 4.23 percent at 8:51 a.m. in New York. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in September lost 2.50 to 1117.10 as of 8:34 a.m. in New York.

Forecasts

Economists expected payrolls would rise by 150,000 last month following a previously reported increase of 32,000 in July, according to the median of 79 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. They expected the jobless rate to hold at 5.5 percent.

Economists such as Ethan Harris at Lehman Brothers Inc. in New York, say the economy needs to create about 150,000 jobs a month to absorb a growing workforce and hold the unemployment rate steady. An average 201,000 jobs a month were added during the record expansion from 1991 to 2001.

``We can all breathe a little sigh of relief,'' said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc., in New York before the report. ``These are the minimum payroll gains you need in order for the consumer to provide enough spending to keep the economy chugging ahead at about 3 percent.''

The unemployment rate, measured through a separate survey of households, fell as more people stopped looking for jobs. The survey of about 60,000 households showed a 21,000 increase in employment and a 152,000 drop in the labor force. Through most of the year, job gains in the household survey outstripped increases shown in the survey of businesses that determines payroll gains.

Election Year

Hurricane Charley, which struck Florida on Aug. 13, had ``no discernible'' effect on August's payrolls, the department said.

The U.S. now has added 1.4 million jobs this year and had a net loss of about 900,000 since Bush took office in January 2001. Bush accepted the Republican Party's nomination to run for a second term last night in New York and said that in a second term he would work to bolster job creation with community tax incentives and job retraining.

Democratic challenger John Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator, blames Bush for the loss of jobs since he took office and says those created over the last year generally pay less than those lost. Kerry held a midnight rally in Springfield, Ohio, last night to counter Bush's acceptance speech.

``President Bush is now certain to be the first president since the Great Depression to face re-election without creating a single job'' on a net basis, Kerry said in a statement from Newark, Ohio, after today's jobs report.

Hours and Wages

Employment in service-producing industries, which include retailers, banks and government agencies, rose 108,000 last month after rising 58,000 in July, the report showed. The increase was led by a 45,000 increase in education and health-related jobs. About 10,000 jobs were added in temporary positions.

The 22,000 increase in manufacturing jobs was the biggest since May and was the sixth increase in the past seven months. The manufacturing workweek held at 40.9 hours and overtime was steady at 4.6 hours for a fourth straight month.

Average weekly hours worked by production workers held at 33.8 hours in August.

Incomes increased last month. Workers' average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent, or 5 cents, after a 0.4 percent increase the previous month. Economists expected a 0.2 percent increase in hourly wages. Average weekly earnings rose to $533.03 last month from $531.34 in July.

Chief Executives

International Business Machines Corp., the world's largest computer maker, last month raised its hiring forecast for the year to 18,800 from 15,000. The move will increase the company's workforce to the highest since 1991.

Business has ``been very consistent with a recovering economy, and we don't see any sign that things are slowing down at all,'' said William Zollars, chief executive of Yellow Roadway Corp., the biggest U.S. trucking company, in an interview yesterday. ``We've seen pretty consistent strength across both manufacturing and retail.''

Chief executives are more optimistic about the economy than they have been for two years, anticipating greater sales and hiring through the rest of this year and into 2005, according to a survey released yesterday by the Business Roundtable, an industry lobby group. Eighty-nine percent of executives polled predicted sales would rise over the next six months and 40 percent expected payrolls to increase.

Among blacks, the unemployment rate fell to 10.4 percent from 10.9 percent in July. The jobless rate for Hispanics increased to 6.9 percent from 6.8 percent and for whites fell to 4.7 percent from 4.8 percent.

For teenagers, unemployment declined to 17 percent last month from 17.6 percent. The jobless rate for women fell to 4.7 percent from 4.9 percent. The jobless rate for men increased to 5 percent from 4.9 percent.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Carlos Torres in Washington [email protected].

To contact the editor responsible on this story:
Kevin Miller at [email protected].
Last Updated: September 3, 2004 08:54 EDT

SpursWoman
09-03-2004, 11:23 AM
And in September, our company alone will be creating at least 100 more. :)


A drop in the bucket, but if we're growing that fast...it follows that our suppliers will, too. And that our customers already have been, and all signs point to continued growth.


We can't possibly be the only one. :fro

Yonivore
09-03-2004, 11:24 AM
Booya!

SpursWoman
09-03-2004, 11:25 AM
And btw, we have awesome health insurance/benefits. :wink

Hook Dem
09-03-2004, 11:44 AM
There you go again SW! Trying to confuse the Demos with facts!:lol

Aggie Hoopsfan
09-03-2004, 03:29 PM
Are ya hiring? ;)

attyjackiechiles
09-03-2004, 03:34 PM
Those statistics are optomistic, complex and don't mean a thing if you ain't got the bling bling.

Nbadan
09-03-2004, 05:24 PM
These numbers barely cover new monthly employment, and do nothing to help the millions who have not been able to find a job under the policies of W.

Tommy Duncan
09-03-2004, 05:25 PM
What policies of Bush's created the loss of jobs? Be specific, don't give me the partisan nutball crap.

Nbadan
09-03-2004, 05:28 PM
What about the administrations policies towards out-sourcing at a time when we need more domestic hiring?

Tommy Duncan
09-03-2004, 05:29 PM
That's nothing.

You want protectionism?

Yonivore
09-03-2004, 05:38 PM
Dang Nbadan. Unemployment is at 5.3%, .8% lower than at this time during the Clinton Administration when everyone was saying how good 6.1% unemployment was.

What's with you?

Nbadan
09-03-2004, 05:41 PM
Nope, just policies that encourage domestic hiring over foreign hiring. The U.S. can't realistically compete in some areas against oppressive countries that pay their employees next to nothing - especially manufacturing.

Tommy Duncan
09-03-2004, 05:44 PM
Oh, so he didn't have policies that promoted domestic hiring.

Who's supposed to pay for that?

Nbadan
09-03-2004, 05:47 PM
Who's supposed to pay for that?

Don't need too. We just need a government that works for the people instead of multi-nationals.

Tommy Duncan
09-03-2004, 05:49 PM
Ha. So you want the cost of living to be higher in the US?

Aggie Hoopsfan
09-03-2004, 06:31 PM
What about the administrations policies towards out-sourcing at a time when we need more domestic hiring?

Tell Kerry to roll over in bed and tell his wife to tell Heinz to quit outsourcing jobs overseas.

Hey, gotta start somewhere...

Joe Chalupa
09-03-2004, 06:35 PM
I think it is good news. Not the best but it's a start.

I'm going to get a part-time job to do my part as an American.