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July jobs report live updates: Labor Department says US unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs, manufacturing hiring ‘treading water’
Friday’s July jobs report showed the US labor market shed jobs from the previous month.
The US Labor Department reported a decline of 23,000 jobs, versus the 80,000 job gains forecast by economists. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, versus estimates of 4.2%. That marked a slowdown from June’s 57,000 new roles, which badly missed expectations.
While data released Wednesday by ADP showedprivate employers added fewer positions than expected in July, annual pay gains for job-switchers were strong — though not so much so that economists are worried about that adding to inflation.
“The slowdown in the monthly employment gain reported by ADP aligns with our assumption that the labor market isn’t in a period of overheating,” Matthew Martin, senior US economist at Oxford Economics, said Wednesday. “Nor is it a cause for concern, as the number is still within range of our estimate of the breakeven pace of monthly employment growth consistent with stable unemployment.”
As for earlier this summer, job openings in June roughly matched economists’ expectations, with some 7.4 million positions available, data released Tuesday showed. Challenger, Gray & Christmas also reported Thursday that hiring plans improved in July, while layoff announcements fell.
