US Economy Gains 222000 Job; Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly

The Labor Department also revised its estimates for job gains in April and May, raising the combined figure by 47,000 jobs. Employers added 222,000 jobs this past month, surpassing several leading economists’ predictions.

Unemployment rose for a good reason: More people jumped back into the job market to look for work. That’s fewer than the 659,000 created during the final four months of the Obama administration, which Trump criticized for its job growth.

Health care, professional and business services and food services and bars were the sectors that saw the greatest improvement in June, adding 37,000, 35,000 and 29,000 new jobs, respectively.

The better-than-expected job data provided further evidence that the economy was in better shape in the second quarter, compared to the lackluster first quarter.

Employment in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government, however, showed little change over the month. That’s up substantially from a low point of 74.8 percent in the early days of the economic recovery, but still below the 80 percent mark when the recession began. When, if ever, will the falling unemployment rate spur faster growth in wages? The average hourly earnings rose to $26.25 in June, up 4 cents from the prior month, according to the preliminary BLS data.

Average wages rose 2.5% year-on-year, which analysts said was a sign the market still had room to improve.

The Federal Reserve voted to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a point from 1 percent to 1.25 percent in June.

During the presidential campaign, Trump criticized the declining unemployment rate (it had been 10 percent in October 2009) as not reflecting the true state of the economy.

At full employment, businesses have an extremely hard time finding available, qualified workers to fill job openings. US automakers slashed another 1,300 jobs in June as slowing sales and bloated inventories forced production cuts.

– The labor force participation rate (the share of the civilian noninstitutionalized population age 16 or over who either have jobs or are available for work and actively seeking employment) will remain relatively constant over the next two years. Among this group, 514,000 individuals were considered discouraged-not now looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. From May to June, the number of those in the labor force grew from 159,784,000 to 160,145,000.