Barclays' Marc Giannoni team noted in their research report that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on September 4 that non-farm payrolls increased by 162,000 in August, significantly exceeding market expectations. However, some of this strong growth stemmed from a temporary rebound in the leisure and hospitality sector and local education, rather than reflecting sustained improvement in labor demand, thus somewhat overstating the actual strength of the labor market. Despite this, Barclays maintains its baseline forecast of a 25 basis point rate hike in September and believes that upcoming inflation data will be a key variable, with a moderate inflation reading not being enough to rule out a September rate hike.