Americans’ confidence in finding a new job after losing one just hit its lowest level in more than a decade, according to a New York Fed survey published Monday.
The metric fell 5.8 percentage points to 44.9% in August, the lowest reading since the start of the survey in June 2013. Additionally, mean expectations that the US unemployment rate will be higher one year from now ticked up nearly 2 percentage points to 39.1%.
The data underscores how workers are feeling the effects of a dramatic slowdown in the labor market. The August jobs report released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that just 22,000 new jobs were added to the economy last month, far fewer than economists had forecast. Meanwhile, revised figures indicated that over the past three months, the US economy has created fewer than 30,000 new jobs, on average.
The job market’s cooling has pushed up investors’ rate cut expectations ahead of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting next week. Investors are now placing 100% probability on an interest rate reduction this month, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.