Below, EPI economists offer their initial insights on the August jobs report released this morning, which showed an increase of 235,000 jobs—a notable slowdown from June and July.

From EPI senior economist, Elise Gould (@eliselgould):

Read the full Twitter thread here. 

The slowdown in payroll employment growth was notable in leisure and hospitality. After growing about 400,000 a month in the prior two months, leisure and hospitality experience zero growth in August, likely related to the reinstatement of Delta-related safety closures.

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) September 3, 2021

The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August as the labor force participation rate held steady. While a notably volatile series, the Black unemployment rate had a troubling increase of 0.6 percentage points to 8.8% in August after falling a full point between June and July. pic.twitter.com/Vl1OatIpav

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) September 3, 2021

This report stresses the importance of keeping in place federal pandemic unemployment insurance to provide a safety net for workers and their families as the Delta variant spreads. And, we must continue to prioritize full employment to narrow racial gaps.https://t.co/bMjo3uVpb8

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) September 3, 2021

From EPI senior economist and director of policy, Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz):

Read the full Twitter thread here. 

DELTA VARIANT LEAVES ITS MARK. Leisure and hospitality, which added 2.1 million jobs between Feb and July—half the total jobs added over that period—was flat in August. Wage growth in leisure and hospitality also slowed considerably.

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) September 3, 2021

Another concern: on a seasonally-adjusted basis, state and local governments *lost* 11,000 jobs. We’re down 815,000 S&L govt jobs since Feb ‘20—half of that in education. It’s crucial S&L governments use their ARP funds to refill those jobs.

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) September 3, 2021