Unemployment sparks job seeking and productivity.
Gamble 22 — Joelle Gamble, Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council, 2022 (“Why It's Good the Unemployment Rate Ticked Up,” U.S. Department of Labor Blog, September 7th, Available Online at https://blog.dol.gov/2022/09/07/why-its-good-the-unemployment-rate-ticked-up, Accessed 06-28-2023)
In August, the U.S. economy added 315,000 jobs, bringing the 3-month average to 378,000 jobs. The private sector added 308,000 jobs. Every sector saw job gains, with the largest gains in professional and business services (+68,000), health care (+48,000) and retail trade (+44,000). With this report, the wholesale trade sector fully recovered.
The unemployment rate rose for a positive reason – more unemployed workers began seeking jobs.
In August, the labor force participation increased to 62.4% after stagnating for several months. This increase in participation led to a slight increase in the unemployment rate, now at 3.7%. This rise was a positive sign – Americans who were not employed and not looking for work began to look for work, becoming classified as unemployed. (Unemployed persons must be actively looking for work to be counted in the primary measure of the unemployment rate.)