First things first…This is not a time to panic and we do not feel it changes the direction of this recovery.
We have had some strong months for employment numbers this year. Six straight months over 200k and that is even with revisions. However the Jobs Report for August showed 142,000 jobs created. Sometime ago this would have been welcome news when we were trending below 100k per month.
The growth we have seen here at King & Bishop is in Professional and Business Services. And as a recruiting firm in Boston, we can tell you that from conversations with our clients in our weekly business cycle, there is continued demand for these skill sets.
Part of the over drag on these numbers for August include weakness in manufacturing and retail. There was even a line in the August Jobs Report that showed a loss of 17,000 jobs in Food and Beverage Stores including a “labor disruption ad a New England based grocery store chain”. We all know who that is.
So there is quirkiness about August that may play into these numbers however most analysts feel that these numbers will be revised up next month. The business process for many organizations slows in August due to time off so we’re not worried.
See how Brendan King analyzes this Number on Fox News in Boston recently.