The U.S. Labor
Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 114,000 in July
after a downwardly revised 179,000 increase (from 206,000) in June. The July
reading was well below the average monthly gain of 215,000 over the prior 12
months and the weakest monthly gain in three weeks.
According to
the report, the largest job advances occurred in job gains occurred in health
care (+55,000), construction (+25,000), and transportation and warehousing (+14,000).
Meanwhile, information lost jobs (-20,000).
The
unemployment rate jumped to 4.3 per cent from an unrevised 4.1
per cent in the prior month.
This was the highest rate since October 2021 (4.5 per cent).
Economists had predicted
the nonfarm payrolls to increase by 175,000 and the jobless rate to remain unchanged
at 4.1 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate edged up to 62.7 per cent in July
from an unrevised 62.6 per cent in
the previous month, while hourly earnings for private-sector workers grew by
0.2 per cent m-o-m (or $0.08) to $35.07, following an unrevised 0.3 per cent m-o-m climb in June. This represented
the weakest monthly rise in three months. Economists had foreseen the average
hourly earnings to jump by 0.3 per cent m-o-m in July. Over the year, the
average hourly earnings soared 3.6 per cent in July, following a downwardly revised 3.8 per cent surge (from +3.9 per
cent) in the previous month. This marked the weakest annual increase since May 2021 (+2.3 per cent). Economists had anticipated
the annual wage to rise by 3.7 per cent in July.
The
average workweek slipped
0.1 hour to 34.2 hours last month, below economists' expectations of 34.3 hours.