The employment situation cooled off slightly in August, with the economy adding 156,000 jobs, according to figures out this morning. That's down a bit from the average gain of 185,000 over the past three months. The headline unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent.
Overall, hiring this year has averaged 176,000 a month, roughly in line with 2016's average of 187,000. The leading source of job growth in August was manufacturing, which added 36,000 jobs. Another 28,000 jobs came from construction.
One mystery remains: Why, with the economy nearing full employment, wages aren't rising faster. Average hourly pay has risen just 2.5 percent over the 12 months ending in August. Pay raises typically average 3.5 percent to 4 percent when the unemployment rate is this low.
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