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This week’s slate of economic reports will be centered on the labor market, beginning with Tuesday morning’s release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). Job openings pulled back slightly in June, but remained near May’s two-year high, an encouraging sign in the current low-fire, low-hire environment. For July, economists expect job openings to be slightly higher month over month.
The big data point comes on Friday, though, with the release of the August jobs report.
Economic reports we’re watching:
Friday, September 4: Nonfarm payrolls report: The July jobs report came in much lower than expected. How worried should we be about August?
Read on to see the entire weekly economic calendar of the most important upcoming economic reports scheduled to be released in the next several days. At times, we provide expanded previews and recaps for select reports.
Please check back often. This economic calendar is updated regularly. Bolded reports are those considered more noteworthy. All reporting times are in Eastern Time.
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Monday (8/31)
There are no noteworthy economic reports scheduled for release on Monday, August 31.
Tuesday (9/1)
Time released
Economic report
Period
9:45 am
S&P Global Final Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)
August
10 am
Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing PMI
August
10 am
Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
July
10 am
Construction spending
July
Wednesday (9/2)
Time released
Economic report
Period
8:15 am
ADP National Employment Report
August
10 am
Factory orders
July
2 pm
Beige Book
N/A
Thursday (9/3)
Time released
Economic report
Period
8:30 am
Weekly jobless claims
Week ending August 29
8:30 am
Fed Governor Christopher Waller speaks
N/A
8:30 am
Trade balance
July
9:45 am
S&P Global Final Services PMI
August
10 am
ISM Services PMI
August
Friday (9/4)
Time released
Economic report
Period
8:30 am
Nonfarm payrolls
August
Did job growth rebound in August?
The July jobs report came in much weaker than expected, with the U.S. losing 23,000 jobs vs estimates of 85,000 new positions.
Additionally, job growth for May and June was downwardly revised, resulting in 103,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
The results lowered expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in September to address sticky inflation, though CME Group FedWatch is now showing odds of a quarter-percentage-point increase are on the rise.
Does this mean we should be worried about August? Maybe not.
“Jobs declined by 23,000 in July, but the drop was the result of the reversal of the World Cup job boost and odd summer hiring patterns at local governments,” writes David Payne, staff economist at The Kiplinger Letter, in the Kiplinger jobs outlook. “The new normal for jobs reports going forward is likely to be gains of fewer than 100,000, rather than additions in six digits.”
For August, Barclays economists believe the U.S. added 25,000 new jobs. “Barring revisions, this would place the 3-month moving average job gain at 7,000, right near the breakeven pace,” they write. The economists expect the unemployment rate to stay at 4.1%.
Reporting schedules are provided Forex Factory and MarketWatch.
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