US Nonfarm employment falls 84,000, Unemployment rate rises to 6.1%. Dollar loses ground in forex. | CountingPips Forex Blog

September 5, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Nonfarm employment falls 84,000, Unemployment rate rises to 6.1%. Dollar loses ground in forex.

U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls employment data released today showed that jobs fell by 84,000 workers in the month of August surpassing expectations. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report showed a decline for the eighth straight month as the unemployment rate increased to 6.1 percent and the most in five years. The employment results were worse than than expected as market forecasts were Forex Market News predicting a drop of approximately 71,000 jobs. The nonfarm payrolls results for July declined by a revised 60,000 jobs after the initial government estimate of a 51,000 decrease.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percent to 6.1 percent from 5.7 percent in July as the number of unemployed persons grew to 9.4 million. Market forecasts were predicting that the unemployment rate would remain unchanged for the month. Over the last twelve months, the jobless rate has gained by 1.4 percent as the number of unemployed workers has increased by 2.2 million in the same time frame.

Manufacturing continued to be the hardest hit by job losses in August, shedding 61,000 jobs while professional and business services also showed a notable decline of 53,000 jobs. Education and health services led the way in job creation this month adding 55,000 jobs while government employment also made employment gains in August with 17,000 jobs added. Hourly earnings showed a rise of 0.4 percent or 7 cents in August after July's rise of 6 cents.

Dollar falls in forex trading.

The U.S. dollar has lost ground against the major currencies in the forex market after the employment news for August. The euro, despite losing ground this week verses the dollar, increased to show a gain from today's opening and trading at 1.4304 dollars per euro in morning US trading. The British pound has gained from today's opening exchange rate of 1.7580 dollars per pound to trading at 1.7712. The pound, despite today's gains, is on its way to the seventh consecutive losing week verses the dollar. Also gaining ground verses the dollar today are the Japanese yen at 106.53, Canadian dollar at 1.0658, Australian dollar at 0.8114, Swiss franc at 1.1091 and the New Zealand dollar at 0.6676 as of Friday morning in the U.S. trading session.

USD/JPY Chart - The US dollar declining today against the Japanese yen as the US employment news was worse than expected(Daily Chart).

Forex Chart

tags: employment, unemployment rate, usd, forex trading

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