162.000 nye jobber i USA i august

I USA, 162,000 jobs were created outside of agriculture in August, according to the crucial Nonfarm Payrolls employment report. Analysts had previously estimated 55,000 new jobs for the previous month, based on a Bloomberg consensus. Unemployment remained steady at 4.1%, exactly as expected. The Nonfarm Payrolls report provides a key indicator of the health of the world's largest economy.

These figures closely follow market movements and influence decisions at the US Federal Reserve (Fed). The job growth is sometimes referred to as "the month's most important statistic." Just a month prior, in July, job numbers showed an unexpected decline of 23,000. However, those figures were later revised to show 21,000 new positions.

Chief economist at Danske Bank, Marius Gonsholt Hov, says the numbers were clearly stronger than anticipated. "Clearly more likely to see a lift in September," he concludes. In the commodity market, this has spurred optimism after strong job numbers. The yield on the important US 10-year Treasury bond is up to 4.80%, up from around 4.75% just before.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied ahead of the release of the numbers. Hov also notes that the unemployment rate is holding steady, and the balance in the labor market is positive. "The main focus for the Fed remains to bring inflation down more persistently," he says. Dane Cekov, interest and currency strategy at Sparebank 1 Markets, says "this was a good move."

The Fed needs to be concerned that the US labor market is stable, he suggests, and a rate hike in September is likely. Cekov adds that "inflation reduction efforts have been hampered." The Fed should therefore focus on lowering prices. The job market, along with price increases, is the most important factor the central bank considers when deciding on interest rates.

It is open whether there will be a hike at the next Fed meeting in mid-September. Following the release of the job numbers, market prices nearly doubled the chance of a rate increase in two weeks. Earlier, the chance was around 50%. Another update on inflation will be released, with August 12 KPI figures for September, before the Fed makes its next rate decision.

US inflation remains well above the 2% target, having jumped after the Iran war sent energy and fuel prices soaring, but has since cooled. Total inflation is well above 3%, while core inflation stood at 2.5% in July. Economists have pointed to high inflation as the Fed's biggest concern moving forward, beyond labor market conditions.

This has been the tone from Fed chief Kevin Warsh. During his Jackson Hole speech last week, he described the labor market as "fairly stable" and said the country was doing well on that front. When it came to price increases, "the numbers were more concerning," Warsh said. He felt progress "has been more modest" over the past two years.