Hiring might have slowed in August in face of delta variant

WASHINGTON (AP) — A stretch of robust hiring over the past few months may have slowed in August at a time when the delta variant's spread has discouraged some Americans from flying, shopping and eating out.

Economists have forecast that employers added 750,000 jobs in August, according to the data provider FactSet. That would represent a substantial gain, though below the roughly 940,000 jobs that were added in both June and July. Some analysts are more pessimistic, expecting job growth of 500,000 or less.

But even many of those economists expect any hiring slowdown to be brief. They note that employers are still struggling to fill jobs to meet strengthened consumer demand and have posted a record-high number of openings. The unemployment rate is projected to have dropped in August to 5.2% from 5.4% in July.

The government will issue the jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.

The latest figures should provide some clues about how strong hiring will be for the rest of the year. A few months ago, many economists, along with officials at the Federal Reserve and the White House, had looked forward to September and the ensuing months as a period when the job market would return to a consistently strong state from the brief but deep pandemic recession.

With vaccinations spreading, their hope was that as fears of viral infections waned, more people would be eager to take jobs. Schools and child care centers would reopen, enabling more parents, particularly women, to start looking for work. And with a $300-a-week federal unemployment supplement set to expire next week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and others speculated that more of the unemployed would be looking for work.

All those trends would help more businesses fill more positions and quell complaints from companies...