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Federal jobs report shows slowdown in hiring in August
Given the slowdown in the labor market, the Federal Reserve is expected to decrease interest rates later this month.
MINNEAPOLIS — For the second straight month, the federal jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed slower than expected job growth across the U.S., as the Federal Reserve now prepares to lower interest rates this month.
According to the report, the U.S. added 142,000 jobs in August. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.3 percent.
The report is an indication of a slowdown in hiring compared to the post-COVID boom that began in 2021.
Paul DeBettignies, an expert in the job recruiting industry and founder of Minnesota Headhunter LLC, said the August jobs report was “just okay.”
“We are still producing jobs in this country. It’s just not as busy as it was,” DeBettignies said. “I think companies are doing a bit of wait-and-see. Wait and see what happens with the election, wait and see if the Federal Reserve is going to start lowering rates.”
In a speech at Notre Dame on Friday, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller hinted at a decrease in the federal funds rate later this month and possibly more cuts in the future. The rates have remained unchanged since last summer, after the Fed steadily increased them in response to high inflation.
“Determining the appropriate pace at which to reduce policy restrictiveness will be challenging. Choosing a slower pace of rate cuts gives time to gradually assess whether the neutral rate has in fact risen, but at the risk of moving too slowly and putting the labor market at risk,” Waller said. “Cutting the policy rate at a faster pace means a greater likelihood of achieving a soft landing but at the risk of overshooting on rate cuts if the neutral rate has in fact risen above its pre-pandemic level.”
Waller also said that “while I don’t see the recent data pointing to a recession, I do see some downside risk to employment that I will be watching closely.”
“But at this point,” he continued, “I believe there is substantial evidence that the economy retains the strength and momentum to keep growing, supported by an appropriate loosening of monetary policy.”
Most experts anticipate that the Fed could lower rates by a quarter-percentage point in September.
“Whether one says we’re going to be in a recession… we have been in a recession of momentum. We’ve been in a recession of emotions. We’re all a little scared, a little uncertain,” DeBettignies said. “The Fed reducing rates will give us some sense that borrowing becomes a little easier, both for consumers and for companies. If the Fed is going to give a series of these rate cuts, that does make borrowing less expensive, and does make it so employers have an easier time to grow.”
Given the job market, DeBettignies suggested that workers looking for job — or thinking about looking for one — should make sure they have updated resumes.
“This market isn’t going to last forever,” he said. “Be ready for those opportunities.”
Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski, who took office in 2021, made the remarks in Facebook posts shared to two separate accounts on the night of Sept. 13.
PORTAGE COUNTY, Ohio — Portage County‘s sheriff appeared to call for residents to record the addresses of residents who publicly display support for presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski, who took office in 2021, made the remarks in Facebook posts shared to two separate accounts on the night of Sept. 13.
“When people ask me…What’s gonna happen if the Flip – Flopping, Laughing Hyena Wins?? I say…write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards! Sooo…when the Illegal human “Locust” (which she supports!) Need places to live…We’ll already have the addresses of the their New families…who supported their arrival!” Zuchowski wrote.
Zuchowski limited the comments on the post.
3News reached out to the sheriff’s office for comment but did not receive a response back.
Kim Potter was convicted of manslaughter after she shot and killed Daunte Wright in 2021.
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — An upcoming training session with officers at the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board was canceled after they learned Kim Potter was a part of it.
Potter, a former Brooklyn Center police officer, was convicted of manslaughter after she shot and killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in 2021. She served 16 months of a two-year sentence.
Daunte’s mother, Katie, said she had no idea Potter would be a part of a training session until after it was canceled.
“I was mad and hurt at the same time. I don’t understand why she would have the audacity to feel like she has that right to even go into a community and benefit off our tragedy,” she said.
Katie said she was relieved they canceled it out of respect for her and her family.
“Whenever I hear Kim Potter’s name or hear her doing anything like this it’s like tearing a band-aid off a forever bleeding wound,” she said. “She doesn’t get to triumph off of our tragedy.”
Potter was supposed to speak alongside former Washington County Assistant Prosecutor Imran Ali.
In an email, he said “We have presented before, but minimally. Her participation is usually between 5-10 percent of any training.”
He said money isn’t her objective.
“Most of the speaking has zero compensation. If the travel is out of town, I make sure her travel costs are covered and a small stipend,” Ali said in an email.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said it’s unfortunate the planned training was canceled and hopes they reconsider.
“We should all support and at least respect how victims feel. At the same time, as attorney general, we’re trying to reduce deadly force encounters between police and community,” he said. “I think it is admirable that Kim Potter would want to come forth and tell her story to help other people learn. I mean she has a cautionary tale to tell.”
Ellison believes Potter’s past could help improve policing.
“I think it could be beneficial for public safety, and it could improve policing,” he said. “She can tell them that she spent decades as a police officer, believed in what she was doing, and committed, and still despite that training and that experience committed a lethal error when she killed Daunte Wright.”
However, Katie just doesn’t see how Potter being a part of training sessions can improve policing.
“Nobody can learn from that,” she said. “I don’t think she’s learned anything. If she’d learned anything she would have written us a letter. I haven’t heard anything.”
Katie said she visits her son’s memorial three times a week to feel close to him.
“I talk to him every time I’m out here, and I feel like he hears me,” she said.
A metal sculpture details his face with different symbols crafted into the metalwork.
“This is Daunte’s face with his crown. We have a couple fists embedded into his crown,” she said. “We have the No. 23 which symbolizes his favorite number because of basketball and Michael Jordan… the infinity just means he’s just going to live on forever. His story will forever be known and told.”
A memorial sits next to the artwork that has a picture of Daunte and a copy of his death certificate.
“The death certificate was really important to me because of the fact that it shows he was, it does homicide and gunshot wound. And I want people to remember that he was killed by law enforcement,” she said.
They also planted a flowerbed by the memorial that is currently blooming with red flowers.
Katie said she is more than willing to visit police departments and explain the impact deadly force has on families.
A fundraiser aims to collect around $25,000 to cover the “upfront costs” of constructing the popular winter attraction.
MINNEAPOLIS — A local winter tradition is in jeopardy, forcing two sculptors to ask the public for help.
Austin, Trevor and Connor Bartz, the Bartz brothers, have crafted giant snow sculptures in New Brighton since 2012. Their first creation was a puffer fish, followed by a shark, an octopus, a sea turtle, a whale, a walrus and more. In 2024, the brothers created a 21-foot-tall “Sparky” the sea lion, their biggest creation to date.
Last winter the brothers told KARE 11 they had to harvest snow from parking lots across the metro and build the behemoth inside a shed at Brightwood Hills Golf Course.
“We’re taking sleds of snow from outside on the pond, we’re sledding it inside, bringing it around this way and into the snow factory,” explained Austin Bartz.
Earlier this month, the brothers started a GoFundMe to raise $25,000 to keep their tradition going.
“We still need another $25,000 to cover upfront costs (lighting, labor, supplies, machine costs, gas, lumber, rental costs). Due to the growing popularity this is NOT a cheap event to run.”
The brothers plan for all the proceeds raised by their sculpture to go to the charity World Vision to provide clean water to people in need. If they aren’t able to reach their fundraising goal to build another snow sculpture, the brothers wrote on the GoFundMe that all of the money raised will go to the charity.
