Media Jobs Stay Solid As Industry Shows Signs Of Growth.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its monthly update on the U.S. job market, and it shows the continued ebb and flow of the broadcast industry. After posting a 0.3% increase in total broadcast sector employment in July, it reports a similar-sized dip in August. The number of Americans working in radio and other broadcast and related content companies was 333,700 last month. That was down 300 from a month earlier. The government doesn’t release monthly radio industry figures. But BLS data shows broadcast employment remains 1.8% below last year’s levels, when it said 339,800 people were working in broadcasting.

In the other media-related sector, BLS says employment in publishing rose 1.1% to 922,300 in August. Even more noteworthy is the print numbers were up 1.3% from a year ago, suggesting that after years of contraction, the print business may have finally stabilized.

An indication of the media’s health is also the number of people working in advertising, and BLS says those numbers continued to show strength through the summer. After a 2.8% month-to-month increase in advertising and public relations employment in July, the government says the number grew another 0.9% in August. That brought the number to 495,900, which was essentially even with last year’s total.

More broadly across the U.S. economy, the government says overall employment growth slowed in August, with 22,000 new positions added across all segments of the nonfarm payroll. Over the month, a job gain in health care was partially offset by losses in federal government employment.

BLS reports federal government employment is down by 97,000 since reaching a peak in January. BLS also revised down monthly employment revisions for June by 27,000 while it revised up July numbers by 6,000. With these revisions, employment in June and July combined is 21,000 lower than previously reported. The unemployment rate, at 4.3%, was up a tenth of a point. That also put it slightly above the narrow 4% to 4.2% ranger that unemployment has been in since May 2024.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents in August to $36.53. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.7%. And the average workweek for all employees edged up by a tenth of an hour to 34.2 hours in August.

Kory Kantenga, Head of Economics at LinkedIn, says the latest report makes it now seem “inevitable” that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates. “The only question is how aggressive that cut will be, as the Fed tries to balance a softening labor market against rising inflation,” he writes in a post. Kantenga also says that although September is typically a strong month for job seekers, this year Americans should expect a more competitive search as businesses are expanding their workforces less, and the pace of hiring remains slow.