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Economy

Productivity and Labor Costs Front-Run August Employment Situation

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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The Labor Department has just released some pre-employment data ahead of Friday’s key employment situation report, but this is a backward looking number. The report was on “Second Quarter Unit Labor Costs and Non-Farm Productivity.” Today’s report showed that the second quarter was up 2.2% on nonfarm productivity, above the Dow Jones consensus of 1.9% and above the Bloomberg consensus of 1.9%. Unit labor costs came in at 1.5%, which was right on target with the 1.5% target projected by Bloomberg.

Today’s news is unlikely to influence or alter the August employment situation report due this coming Friday. Bloomberg has a consensus target for the official unemployment rate to remain static at 8.3%. Bloomberg sees 125,000 nonfarm payroll gains in August, versus 163,000 in July, and the private sector is expected to have added 134,000 jobs in August, versus 172,000 in July.

Bloomberg is calling for a 0.2% increase in hourly earnings and for the average work week to be 34.5 hours.

JON C. OGG

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.

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