Payrolls in U.S. Rise Less Than Forecast While Jobless Rate Falls to 7.3%

By Shobhana Chandra and Victoria Stilwell - Sep 6, 2013
Payrolls in the U.S. climbed less than projected in August and gains for the prior two months were revised down, pointing to an expansion that’s struggling to gain momentum.

The addition of 169,000 workers last month trailed the 180,000 median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 96 economists. Unemployment fell to 7.3 percent, the lowest since December 2008, as workers left the labor force.

Bigger increases in employment are needed to propel the consumer spending that accounts for 70 percent of the world’s largest economy. Stocks and Treasuries rose as investors bet Federal Reserve policy makers, at their next meeting Sept. 17-18, will temper plans to reduce an $85 billion monthly pace of bond purchases that have bolstered global markets.

“Today’s numbers are soggy, and certainly at odds with other evidence on the economy that shows things are OK,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. in New York, whose forecast called for a 170,000 increase in payrolls. “Recent reports show there are pockets of strength in the economy as well as pockets of weakness.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-06/payrolls-in-u-s-rose-less-than-forecast-jobless-rate-at-7-3-.html