The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that there were 114,000 jobs created in July, which was well below estimates of 175,000. Negative revisions to May and June shaved 29,000 jobs from those months combined. The unemployment rate rose from 4.1% to 4.3%, which is the highest level since October 2021.
What’s the bottom line? There were signs of labor sector weakness throughout this report. Not only was the headline job number (which comes from the report’s Business Survey) well below estimates, the report’s Household Survey showed an even lower number of job gains, at just 67,000. This latter figure is considered more real-time because it’s derived by calling households, whereas the Business Survey is based on modeling and estimations.
In addition, the number of people employed part-time for economic reasons rose by 346,000 to 4.6 million in July. These are people who would have preferred full-time employment but were working part-time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. The number of people who could only find part-time work rose by 51,000.
Regarding wages, average hourly earnings were below estimates while average weekly earnings declined.
