The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, far exceeding expectations, but the gender imbalance in those gains has prompted investor Anthony Pompliano to question what deeper labor-market trends may be at play.
August Jobs Beat Estimates
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 162,000 in August, compared with economists’ expectations for 56,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Private employers added 127,000 jobs, while government payrolls rose by 35,000.
The August increase marked a rebound from July, when payrolls rose by 21,000 after an initial estimate showed a decline of 23,000. The unemployment rate held at 4.1%.
Women Account For 98% of Gains
Pompliano highlighted a CNBC analysis in a post on X showing that women accounted for about 98% of the August net employment gain.
"It is being reported that 98% of all jobs created in August went to women in the US economy," the Professional Capital Management CEO said.
He noted that much of the discussion has focused on industries driving employment growth, including healthcare and education, but argued that "there is an underlying immigration story as well."
Pompliano also pointed to TMT Long/Short as one of the few analysts discussing that angle.
Labor Market Revisions Raise Concerns
Market commentator The Kobeissi Letter raised concerns about the U.S. labor market after pointing to repeated downward revisions in job-opening data.
It highlighted a 177,000 downward revision to June job openings, the largest monthly downward revision since November 2025 and the third consecutive monthly revision.
It also noted that June hires were revised down by 16,000, quits by 19,000, while layoffs and discharges were revised up by 19,000.
Job openings had been revised lower in 38 of the past 43 months, prompting Kobeissi to say U.S. labor-market data was becoming "increasingly difficult to read with confidence."
The revisions came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, which confirmed that June job openings had been revised down by 177,000 to about 7.2 million.
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