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Alex Wong

Economists respond to today's report from the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics:



Capital Economics:

"...even if the U.S. economy doesn't start to contract again, any expansion is going to be very, very modest and fall well short of what would be needed to drive the still elevated unemployment rate lower."





Sal Guatieri, senior economist, BMO Nesbitt Burns:





"The disappointing August jobs figure raises a downside risk to the growth outlook and opens the door slightly further for QE3. It could also increase pressure on the Republican-led House to approve of the President's economic and job-creation proposals."





CIBC economics:



"The weakness in payrolls data included the impact of a strike that chopped the number down by about 45K, but the report would still have been a poor one, with hourly earnings moving -0.1% (after a 0.5% prior month jump), weekly hours being shortened to 34.2 (down one tick) and no sector really showing much job momentum."



High Frequency Economics:



The weakness in payrolls data included the impact of a strike that chopped the number down by about 45K, but the report would still have been a poor one, with hourly earnings moving -0.1% (after a 0.5% prior month jump), weekly hours being shortened to 34.2 (down one tick) and no sector really showing much job momentum.





Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG in New York (via Reuters):

"The economy is slowly grinding to a halt. The problem, however, on the policy side is that I wonder whether the numbers are truly weak enough to galvanize a political response."



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