U.S. added 187,000 jobs to payrolls in July; jobless rate changed little
Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in July, according to data released Friday, but the overall unemployment rate changed little.
The increase in total non-farm payroll employment was less than the average monthly gain of 312,000 in the previous 12 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
It also added that the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.5% in July compared to a range of 3.4%-3.7% since March 2022. About 5.8 million people were unemployed, which also represented little change.
Labor offers a good barometer for the health of any major economy. For the United States, a dramatic slump, along with a downturn in gross domestic product, would show recessionary pressures are building as the Federal Reserve tackles inflation with aggressive rate hikes.
That's not been the case so far.
"The unemployment rate is 3.5%, marking a full year and half below 4%," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "This follows recent news that our economy continues to grow, while inflation has fallen by nearly two-thirds and is at its lowest level in more than two years."
Federal data published Friday show the number of people laid off last month changed little month-on-month, as did the number of long-term unemployed.
Wage growth, at 4.4% annually, is running below core inflation and the work week was trimmed to 34.3 hours on average last month. This week, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that job prospects were weakening in response to a downturn in manufacturing, a sector that may already be in recession.
On manufacturing, investment bank ING said the outlook for employment is the weakest it's been in three years, which would signal that "significant job losses" may be coming to that sector.
Private payroll processor ADP said this week that private employers added 324,000 jobs in July as chief economist Nela Richardson said the U.S. economy looked to be performing better than expected on the back of a "healthy labor market," though the increase in wages from this time last year marked the slowest rate since November 2021.
ING said the latest jobs data were mixed, however, though it should give the Fed reason to pause when it meets again next month.
"A mixed outcome, which doesn't rule out further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, but doesn't give the central bank the all clear on inflation risks either," ING Chief International Economist James Knightly wrote. "Tighter monetary conditions will increasingly weigh on job creation though."
