The U.S. Labor
Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by 206,000 in June after
a downwardly revised 218,000 increase (from 272,000) in May. The June reading
was below the average monthly gain of 220,000 over the prior 12 months.
According to
the report, the largest jobs increases occurred in job gains occurred in
government (+70,000), health care (+49,000), social assistance (+34,000), and
construction (+27,000).
Meanwhile, the
unemployment rate edged up to 4.1 per cent from an unrevised 4.0
per cent in the prior month.
This marked the highest rate since November 2021 (4.1 per cent).
Economists had expected
the nonfarm payrolls to rise by 190,000 and the jobless rate to be unchanged at 4.0 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate inched up to 62.6 per cent in June
from an unrevised 62.5 per cent in
the previous month, while hourly earnings for private-sector workers increased
by 0.3 per cent m-o-m (or $0.10) to $35.00, following an unrevised 0.4 per cent m-o-m rise in May. Economists had forecast the average hourly earnings to advance by 0.3 per cent
m-o-m in June. Over the year, the average hourly earnings climbed 3.9 per cent
in June, following an unrevised 4.1 per cent gain in the previous month. This represented
the weakest increase since June 2021 (+3.9 per cent). Economists had predicted
the annual wage to surge by 3.9 per cent in June.
The
average workweek held steady at 34.3
hours last month, matching
economists' expectations.