Latest payroll report won’t tip Fed’s hand

The non-farms payroll report missed expectations on the headline number with only 173K jobs added to the economy in August. However, the report actually confirms the underlying strength of the U.S. labor market. The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.1%, the lowest level since April 2008 and the June and July payroll reports were revised upwards by 44K jobs. August, because of seasonality issues, is typically revised up significantly too. Average wages ticked up 0.3% for the month and 2.2% over a year ago.

"The labor-force participation rate was unchanged at 62.6%. The report had a few weak spots - manufacturing lost 17K jobs and the mining sector lost 9K. But this basically positive employment report makes the Fed's September rate hike decision as clear as mud", says Voya Global.