Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. While the U.S. economy overall added 1.4 million jobs in August, buoyed by almost 250,000 temporary census workers that will be laid off at month’s end, the legal vertical added exactly zero jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report. 

While not counted in this month’s report, a spat of layoffs in recent days suggests that a flat month of job growth might be the best the industry can expect for some time.