Shrugging off the turmoil in the world’s financial markets, U.S. employers continued to hire in August, adding 190,000 new jobs to the national economy.
The monthly National Employment Report from HR services and payroll processor ADP came in somewhat lower than the 200,000 increase economists expected, yet it was an improvement over the revised 177,000 job growth in July.
A second report today from the non-profit business research membership organization, The Conference Board, said the number of online job postings increased by 34,200 in August. So far this year jobs posted online have increased by 302,000.
Healthcare jobs continue to be the most heavily advertised and the hardest to fill, according to The Conference Board. The category had 616,000 jobs online last month, and a .24 score on the Board’s supply and demand ranking. The lower the number, the more jobs posted online per unemployed healthcare worker. For every unemployed healthcare worker, there were 4 jobs posted online.
Primarily due to demand for Registered Nurses, and Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, the number of healthcare jobs increased from July to August by 14,300.
STEM jobs, too, were difficult to fill. Computer and mathematical science jobs posted online increased by 3,100 over the month to 590,100. There were just over 3 jobs for every unemployed worker in the category.
ADP’s report showed employers of all sizes and in nearly all industries were hiring last month.
“The job growth numbers for August improved slightly from July,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. “The employment gains for the month are in line with the year-to-date average.” From January through July, employers added an average of 197,000 private sector jobs monthly, according to ADP.
In August, as has been the case for most of the last two years, small employers continued to lead the hiring, adding 85,000 new workers last month. Mid-size employers, those with 50-499 workers, grew payroll by 66,000. Employers with more than 500 employees added 40,000 new jobs, with 34,000 added by the largest employers, those with more than 1,000 workers.
Each of the five major sectors had increases:
- 29,000 in professional and business services;
- 28,000 trade/transportation/utilities;
- 17,000 in construction;
- 13,000 in financial activities;
- 7,000 in manufacturing.
“Recent global financial market turmoil has not slowed the U.S. job market, at least not yet,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, ADP’s partner in the monthly report. “Job growth remains strong and broad-based, except in the energy industry, which continues to shed jobs. Large companies also remain more cautious in their hiring than smaller ones.”
Looking ahead to Friday’s Labor Department report, economists, on average, are expecting nonfarm payrolls to have grown by 220,000. They also expect the unemployment rate to decline from July’s 5.3% to 5.2%.