Rejoice! Friday is here and we've got a roundup of the week's top news stories in hiring, engineering, and aerospace to hold you over until Monday morning.
US employers added a modest 130,000 jobs in August, a figure that was actually boosted by the temporary hiring of 25,000 government workers for the upcoming Census. Excluding all government hiring, businesses added just 96,000 jobs, the fewest since May. The good news is that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7%, near the lowest level in five decades.
Read more from the Los Angeles Times >>
In manufacturing news – US PMI fell to 49.1 in August, the first downward tick recorded in three years. Economists point to rising trade war tensions and tariffs as contributing to the contraction. The US joins Germany, Britain, Japan, and South Korea in posting declines in manufacturing within the last month as part of a global economic slowdown.
Read more from Business Insider >>
Did you know that China has a rover on the moon? It’s called Yutu-2 and while investigating the far side of the lunar surface, the craft stumbled upon a unique and wholly bizarre “gel-like” substance of unknown origin sitting inside a small impact crater. Chinese media didn’t go as far as to say it was the alien symbiote Venom, but they haven't denied it which is very telling.
Read more from MIT Technology Review >>
Even with unconfirmed extraterrestrial symbiotes possibly running amuck inside our solar system, startups are still vying to leave Earth and Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator is helping them in their daring pursuits. Techstars announced its inaugural class of 10 aerospace companies that will work closely with a network of expert mentors and formal sponsors from industry and government to accelerate their commercial space ventures.
By unveiling the Taycan Turbo, Porsche is challenging Tesla's high-end Model S for the crown of most powerful all-electric sports car. But when you come for the king, you best not miss, as the German automaker learned when Musk tweeted a simple but cutting takedown that sent the internet into such a tizzy that Dictionary.com had to step in.