Economy Added 130,000 Jobs in August, Trump Calls For Another Rate Cut

New Home Sales Increase Despite Rising Mortgage Rates

The economy added 130,000 jobs in August amid a global slowdown prompted by a trade war with China, uncertainty over Brexit and increased market volatility. The unemployment number remained unchanged at 3.7 percent with wage growth remaining steady at 3.2 percent, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a stronger jobs report on Friday, with around 160,000 jobs added. June and July's jobs numbers were also revised downward by a total of 20,000 as well.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech about the global economic outlook later Friday, amid speculations that the Fed would lower rates at its next policy meeting on Sept. 17-18 in Washington. Rates were lowered back in July by one-quarter of a percentage point, at its last meeting, due to global trade tensions.

Powell's actions as chairman continued to be the focus of President Donald Trump's ire on Friday, with the president tweeting, "Where did I find this guy Jerome?"

"I agree with @jimcramer, the Fed should lower rates. They were WAY too early to raise, and Way too late to cut - and big dose quantitative tightening didn’t exactly help either. Where did I find this guy Jerome? Oh well, you can’t win them all!"

The chairman has been a frequent target of Trump's criticism for raising rates too quickly. In response to the Great Recession in 2008, the central bank slash rates to zero for nearly seven years, before the Fed began a series of increases in December 2015.

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content