From IGM News Feed[US JOBS DATA - REVISING THE TREND DOWN] June...

From IGM News Feed

[US JOBS DATA - REVISING THE TREND DOWN] June and July payroll job counts were revised lower, erasing a total of 58k jobs. Add that to the 60k or so disappointment in August, and there are about 120k jobs missing from the past 3 months, relative to what was expected. Households reported 331k new jobs in August, but the 3-month average for household employment is -51k, vs +35k for payrolls, so the household count doesn't really offer any sunshine here. Factories shed 3k workers. Construction shed 5k. Retail shed 8k. Information shed 48k (there's the strike). Government shed only 17k, far slower than the 3-month average of -48k. Note that private hiring was revised up a bit in July, more than offset by the upward revision to public job cuts. July was the first month of the new fiscal year for states, and cuts were heavy.

[US HOURS - NOT A GOOD SIGN] Average weekly hours fell to 34.2 from 34.3, after falling from 34.4 back in June. This is the lowest hours level since January. True to form, when hours picked up early this year, so did hiring. Hours headed the other way is a worry. Aggregate hours fell 0.2% in August, to the lowest level since April. The workweek typically has much more influence on aggregate hours than the monthly change in employment, so we can't blame Verizon for the drop in aggregate hours. As we noted when the productivity data were released, weak productivity growth usually means weak job growth. We are seeing that now. The "good" news is that the drop in aggregate hours will help shore up productivity. Aggregate hours also serve as a good proxy for the labor contribution to GDP - not so hot in August.