The US added 315,000 nonfarm payrolls in August 2022, representing the smallest job gain since April 2021.
The figure comes after a downwardly revised 526,000 result in July. The report exceeded market forecasts of 300,000 jobs and indicated a remaining tightness in the labour market.
The positive jobs results will boost speculation in the markets about a hawkish US Fed interest rates hike, with chair Jerome Powell citing the tight labour market as a contributing factor to continued aggressive rate hikes from the Reserve.
Sectors with high jobs increases included professional and business services, health care and retail trade.
Although August marked a historically less impressive period for new jobs growth, nonfarm employment is currently 240,000 over the pre-Covid level in February 2020.