The job market is healthy, but it is not steady.
U.S. companies continue creating new employment opportunities. In August, 130,000 new jobs were created. That marks a decent month of job growth, but far from impressive.
The September data will be released on Friday in the week ahead.
While the jobs data is a trailing economic indicator, it remains one of the most important barometers of economic health. The Federal Reserve is focused on the monthly read-out as it gauges how to act as a counter-balance to the threat of slower global economic growth being imported in the U.S. and the economic casualties from the trade war with China.
What the job market is telling investors is people are finding new work, though not at the longer-term pace that had been case.
The American job market created an average of 158,000 per month through the first eight months of this year. That is the slowest pace of job growth between January and August since the end of the Great Recession.
Admittedly, it is somewhat arbitrary to use the first of a calendar year to measure longer-term job prospects. However, it can help give investors a broader perspective beyond a single month's results that can drive stock prices in the short-term. Other job market gauges similarly find a positive but unsteady market. A quarterly survey by the Business Roundtable finds CEO hiring plans cooled. The number of monthly job openings has level off after growing for years.
A slower job market? Yes. A weak market? No.
Any de-acceleration in new jobs deserves close consideration as investors search for more certainty.
