PAGE 4-12 Points Jobless Claims Rise Slightly in August (September 12, 2022) The number of Americans filing jobless claims rose slightly in August to 213,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, despite total nonfarm payroll employment increasing by 315,000 as employers increased hiring. The official unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent. The Labor Department also reported rea average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory work increased 0.4 percent from July to August. This result combined with changes to the Consumer Price Index is the third straight month of real wage increases for workers. The Labor Departmen also reported that labor force participation rate increased by 0.3 percentage point over the month to 62.4 percent, but is still 1.0 percentage point below its February 2020 level at the beginning the pandemic. In separate news, the Small Business Recovery Report released from the Kabbage unit of American Express found small companies had increased revenues by nearly double from July 2021 to this year, though profits remained flat. "Small businesses are adjusting to not only survive but flourish during challenging economic times," said Brett Sussman, vice president head of sales & marketing, Kabbage from American Express. 4A. Construct a market for production and nonsupervisory work in July 2022. Label initial curves and equilibrium wages and quantity with subscript "1".