The U.S. Labor Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose
by 528,000 in July after an upwardly revised 398,000 advance (from 372,000) in June.
This was the highest monthly increase since February (714,000). According to the report, the largest job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (+96,000), professional and
business services (+89,000), and health care (+70,000).
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate slipped to 3.5 percent in July from 3.6
percent in the prior month. This was the lowest rate since February 2020 (3.5
percent).
Economists had forecast the nonfarm payrolls to rise by 250,000 and the
jobless rate to be unchanged at 3.6 percent.
The labor force participation rate inched down to 62.1 percent
in July from 62.2 percent in the previous month, while hourly earnings for
private-sector workers rose 0.5 percent m-o-m (or $0.15) to $32.27, following an
upwardly revised 0.4 percent m-o-m advance (from 0.3 percent m-o-m) in June.
Economists had forecast the average hourly earnings to rise 0.3 percent m-o-m
in July. Over the year, the average hourly earnings jumped 5.2 percent in July, following an upwardly unrevised 5.2 percent
climb (from +5.1 percent) in the previous month.
The average workweek was unchanged m-o-m at 34.6 hours in July, being
slightly above economists' estimate for 34.5 hours.