The Department of Labor reported new jobs growth expanded at 130,000 in July. (Just at the generally accepted approximately 130-150,000 new jobs per month to absorb the expanding workforce).  Non-seasonally adjusted figures for construction showed unemployment moved down to 3.6 percent [or minus 0.2 basis point from July, vs. being up 0.2 basis points from a year ago in August 2018 when it stood at 3.4%].  During the month, the construction industry employment remained steady.

Overall unemployment remained at 3.7 percent again bucking the labor force participation drag.  (“Unemployed persons” dropped one-tenth to 6.0 million per the government count).  The “labor force participation” rate actually improved two-tenth to 63.2 percent. [NOTE: The “labor force participation” rate works inversely to the overall unemployment figures, meaning: as it deteriorates/gets worse or smaller, it actually is counted as improving unemployment (i.e., people leaving the workforce are no longer viewed/counted as unemployed by the DOL)].  The “employment to population ratio” also improved two-tenth as well to 60.9 percent. The average hourly earnings for employees remained up 3.2% (over the past 12-months).

See the Workforce Statistics here.