According to Gallup, the U.S. payroll-to-population employment rate, or the percentage of adult Americans working full-time for an employer, fell to 43.7% in August, down from 44.6% in July and a drop from 45.3% last year.
Despite the August decline, the P2P rate is still higher than it was in the first three months of the year, when it averaged 43.4%. However, P2P is traditionally stronger in the summer, because of seasonal increases in hiring, such as in the farming and agriculture sectors. Because of this, comparing year-over-year changes is helpful in evaluating whether monthly changes are due to seasonality or true growth (or deterioration) in the percentage of people working full time for an employer.
