GET DAILY REPORT FREE
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says that the U.S. still has a “good healthy labor market” even though the pace of job creation has slowed in recent months, Reuters reports.
Yellen noted to reporters in North Carolina on Thursday that July’s unemployment rate of 4.3%, a three-year high, is still very low by historical standards.
The Labor Department’s closely watched jobs data for August is due on Friday, with the unemployment rate forecast to ease slightly to 4.2%.
Private payrolls data released on Thursday showed that employers hired the fewest workers in some 42 months in August with the prior month’s hiring revised downward, hinting at a possible sharp slowdown in hiring.
“Even though the pace of job creation has slowed, it is normal and adequate to absorb new entrants into the labor market,” Yellen says, adding that growth continues at a rapid pace—3% in the second quarter—with solid data on consumer spending and investment spending.
