Chart of the Week: Payroll Growth and Unemployment Rate

The August employment report confirmed that the job market is cooling. With a 142,000 job increase in August and downward revisions of the June and July numbers, job growth has slowed to an average of 116,000 jobs over the past three months.

Zillow: Newly Unemployed Service Workers Owe $1.7 Billion/Month in Housing Payments

Zillow, Seattle, said its analysis found more than $1.7 billion in rent and mortgage payments is owed each month by U.S. service-sector workers currently receiving unemployment benefits as a result of the coronavirus pandemic — payments that could be in jeopardy if expanded local and federal unemployment assistance fades or workers remain without incomes longer than expected.

MBA April Economic Commentary: Economy Slows Sharply; Massive Job Loss; but V-Shaped Recovery in Forecast

The spread of the coronavirus has slowed global and U.S. economic activity to a halt. Public and private measures to stem the spread of the virus have led to indefinite interruptions in many sectors of the economy, as well as future uncertainty surrounding how long this pause in the global economy will last and what the potential economic losses could be.