The most troubling feature of the job market is how thinly spread gains are, top economist says - 'this only happens when the economy is in recession'

"The latest jobs report revealed the U.S. economy added just 22,000 jobs in August with revisions to prior months showing June actually saw a decline. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate edged up to a four-year high of 4.3%. In a note on Saturday, Torsten Sløk, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, observed that job growth in tariff-impacted sectors is negative. Manufacturers alone cut 12,000 workers last month."

""Since the beginning of the year, the economy has created a paltry 600k jobs, but without the job growth in these industries, there would be zero job growth." The year-to-date gains of the health care and social assistance sectors plus the leisure and hospitality industry total 855,900, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning the economy would actually be in the hole by more than 250,000 jobs if not for those groups."

The U.S. economy added just 22,000 jobs in August, with prior-month revisions showing June actually declined and the unemployment rate rising to 4.3%, a four-year high. Job growth is negative in tariff-impacted sectors, and manufacturers cut 12,000 workers in the latest report. Health care and social assistance added 46,800 jobs and leisure and hospitality added 28,000, providing the bulk of year-to-date gains. Combined year-to-date increases in those two sectors total 855,900, meaning overall payrolls would be down by more than 250,000 without them. Less than half of BLS-tracked industries have added payrolls over the past six months.

Read at Fortune