Productivity and Labor Costs Front-Run August Employment Situation

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

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Economy