The September jobs report left room for two realities: employers were adding jobs, and millions of workers still wanted full-time hours. In the release published October 7, 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a gain of 156,000 nonfarm payroll jobs and an unemployment rate little changed at 5.0 percent. [jobs2016]

BLS also counted 5.9 million people working part time for economic reasons. These were workers whose hours had been reduced or who could not find full-time jobs despite wanting them. That count was little changed too. The payroll increase therefore did not erase the report’s evidence of insufficient work. [jobs2016]

The household-income picture came from an earlier month. On September 30, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that inflation-adjusted disposable personal income rose 0.1 percent in August, while inflation-adjusted consumer spending fell 0.1 percent. BEA attributed the spending decline primarily to durable goods, partly offset by higher spending on services. [income2016]

Read together, the releases argue for attention to hours as well as jobs. That is an editorial judgment, not a finding that the August income change caused September’s employment result. The figures concern different months and do not describe how any particular family fared. This October 8 retrospective uses the estimates reported then; BEA now labels its release superseded. [jobs2016][income2016]

Source documents

  1. Personal Income and Outlays, August 2016https://www.bea.gov/news/2016/personal-income-and-outlays-august-2016
  2. Employment Situation, September 2016https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_10072016.htm