The August 2024 Jobs Report & July 2024 JOLTS: The Current U.S. Employment Situation

Employment increased by 142,000 per the latest BLS Employment Situation Summary and August 2024 jobs report, below economists’ expected gain of 160,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.2% – in line with predictions – and the number of unemployed persons also decreased to 7.1 million.

The latest JOLTS report showed 7.7 million job openings on the last business day of July, a decrease from June’s revised total of 7.9 million and the lowest amount we’ve seen since January 2021. There were 5.5 million hires and 5.4 million separations, including 3.3 million quits and 1.8 million layoffs and discharges.

Here are additional takeaways from the August 2024 U.S. job numbers:

• What industries are hiring now? Per the JOLTS, job openings decreased significantly in health care and social assistance (-187,000) and state and local government, excluding education (-101,000); job openings jumped by 178,000 in professional and business services.
• Average hourly earnings for private employees increased by $0.14 (or 0.4%) to $35.21, a nice uptick from June’s wage growth of $0.08.
• Changes in total nonfarm payroll employment for June and July were both revised down by a combined 86,000 jobs.

Leisure and hospitality, health care and social assistance, and construction all saw healthy gains in employment last month, though momentum has slowed down in health care and social assistance specifically; manufacturing employment decreased significantly by 24,000.

U.S. jobs data shows a labor market that is continuing to cool. Keep up with hiring trends in our Resource Center to stay ahead of the curve and explore our tools and solutions for finding the right hires for your team. If you’re looking to make a career move yourself, search our database of verified jobs across 50+ industries to find your next opportunity.