After posting a 68,000 job gain in July, the August figure of a loss of 4,000 was unexpected. The Labor Department also reported on Sept. 7 that the unemployment rate remained at 4.6%
."Durable goods manufacturing lost 30,000 jobs, owing to the auto industry's woes and broader from Asian imports, benefiting from undervalued currencies and other subsidies, limits employment, " explained Peter Morici, professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Overall in August manufacturing lost 46,000 jobs, and over the last 89 months, manufacturing has shed more than 3.3 million jobs. "Were the trade deficit cut in half, manufacturing would recoup about 2 million of those jobs," said Morici.