Mixed Report

Uncle Sam isn’t failing economics… but his grades are slipping.

The U.S. economy added 142,000 jobs in August, which was less than expected but a nice bump up from July’s worryingly low 89,000. The leisure and hospitality sector added the most jobs (+46,000), followed by health care (+44,100), and construction (+34,000). The largest losses came in manufacturing (-24,000), retail (-11,100), and information (-7,000).

Unemployment dropped from 4.3% to 4.2%.

With the labor market’s cooldown and inflation’s slow but steady descent towards its 2% target, the Fed is fixin’ for a rate cut next week. The jury is still out on whether it’ll lower rates by 0.25 percentage points (typical) or opt for a larger-than-normal 0.50 percentage point drop.

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ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
Our hope is never contingent on the economy’s ups and downs; it’s secure in what Christ has already done. Regardless of whether the economy gets better or worse in the coming days, everything eventually ends well for followers of Christ.

“Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you… You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials.” 
1 Peter 1:3-4, 6 (CSB) (read full passage)