The U.S. economy is destroying jobs for the third straight month in August but significantly less than expected and job creation in the private sector were pleasantly surprised, easing the pressure on the Federal Reserve for new measures support.
Last month, 54,000 non-agricultural jobs have been eliminated, said Friday the Labor Department, the number of temporary contracts linked to the census of population decreased by 114,000.
The private sector alone, considered a better barometer of the health of the labor market, has created 67,000 jobs in August, against 107 000 (revised 71,000) in July.
Washington has also sharply revised downward the number of items destroyed in July, to 54,000 against 131,000 originally announced. The figures for June were also revised to show 175,000 job losses against 221,000 originally estimated.
"These are very good figures for the labor market," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT. "This means that for the moment, the fear of a weakened U.S. economy is unjustified, the statistics showing that the labor market is not as degraded as that."
Wall Street opened sharply higher after the publication of these statistics, while U.S. government bonds, seen as safe havens amplified their losses.By mid-afternoon, the dollar also gained ground against the euro and the yen.
Economists and analysts polled by Reuters on average had forecast 100,000 job losses in non-farm in August, and 41,000 designs in the private sector.
NEW MEASURES TO STUDY THE WHITE HOUSE
The statistic should alleviate fears of a return to recession and reduce pressure on the Fed for a new program to buy back debt intended to keep rates low on the market, thus promoting the credit.
President Barack Obama on Friday welcomed the employment figures, which he presented as good news but added that they were not sufficient.
He said he would consider next week a new series of measures to support growth and employment.
Fears of a return to recession had already fallen in recent days after reassuring statistics on activity in the manufacturing sector and consumer spending, but weak growth continues to worry investors.
The unemployment rate rose last month to highlight to 9.6%, in line with economists' forecasts, a number of unemployed discouraged by the situation on the labor market recovering himself looking for a job .
The difficulties in finding jobs weigh on household consumption, which is usually two-thirds of economic activity in the United States, and the recovery is still hesitant.
In the second quarter, growth slowed considerably and the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke said last week that the central bank stood ready to increase its support to the economy if necessary.
The publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the central bank, however, shows that such a decision will be taken in case of significant deterioration of the prospects.
"The economy somehow mark a break and, depending on the time period should last, the Fed will be forced to intervene or not," said Ryan Sweet, economist at Moody's Economy.com.
The average weekly working hours was unchanged in August to 34.2 hours.