From Fox Business: The U.S. economy added jobs in July – though it was at a slower pace than in the last several months as uncertainty over economic conditions mounted.
The Labor Department on Friday reported that employers added 73,000 jobs in July, a figure that was cooler than the estimate of economists polled by LSEG.
The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 4.2%, in line with LSEG economists’ estimate.
Job gains in the prior two months were both revised, with job creation in May revised downward by 125,000 from a gain of 144,000 to 19,000; and June job gains were revised down by 133,000 from a gain of 147,000 to 14,000. Taken together, employment in May and June was 258,000 lower than previously reported, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted were “larger than normal” revisions.
Economists had predicted a dip due to trade uncertainties, which has dampened investment and business sentiment.
“[The] July jobs report will be payback for June,” said Oxford Economics economist Nancy Vanden Houten. He 90,000 jobs will be added in August.
Other key points:
- Private sector payrolls rose by 83,000 in July. A 100,000 job gain was projected by LSEG.
- Government payrolls declined by 10,000 in July, after a 12,000 job planned reduction in the federal government.
- State government added 5,000 jobs
- Local government had a 3,000 job decline.
- The healthcare sector added 73,300 jobs
- Retail added 15,700 jobs.
- Hospitality added 5,000 jobs
- Transportation and warehousing added 3,600 jobs
- The manufacturing sector lost 11,000 jobs in July, even after shedding 15,000 jobs in June.
- Professional services jobs were down by 14,000.
- Temp work was down by 4,400.
- Mining and logging jobs lost 4,000.
The Labor Department also revised the report on job growth in May and June, and it was significantly lower than initially reported.
The department reduced the job growth figures by 258,000.
In May, the U.S. only added 19,000 jobs, compared to the initial report of 144,000. Similarly, in June, the job growth was only 14,000, a reduction from the initial report of 147,000.
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