July Jobs Report: +943,000

The jobs report for July is out and it’s a strong one. Last month, the U.S. economy created 943,000 net new jobs. According to Bloomberg, the consensus on Wall Street was for a gain of 870,000 jobs.

Private sector payrolls rose by 703,000. Government added 240,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.4%. Average hourly earnings rose by 0.4%. The labor force participation rate increased to 61.7%.

June payrolls were revised to 938,000 from 850,000. May was revised to 614,000 from 583,000.

The unemployment rate for discouraged workers fell to 9.2% from 9.8%.

As has been the case for the past several months, leisure and hospitality led job creation, adding 380,000 positions, of which 253,000 came in bars and restaurants. The sector took the hardest hit during the pandemic but has been showing consistent gains during the economic reopening.

The unemployment rate for leisure and hospitality tumbled to 9% in July from 10.9% in June and compared to 25% a year earlier, though there are still about 1.8 million fewer workers than prior to the pandemic. Wages in the sector rose 1.2% month over month and are up 3.1% from a year earlier.

Education also showed strong gains, with 261,000 new hires. The BLS cautioned, however, that the pandemic has distorted the sector’s numbers and likely elevated the number for July.

Posted by on August 6th, 2021 at 8:44 am


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