Staff Reports
The U.S. economy added 528,000 jobs in June, according to data released by the Department of Labor (DOL) on Friday. This is more than double the 250,000 jobs that economists thought would be added.
The DOL's report said that the unemployment rate went down a little bit, to 3.5%. This was lower than what economists had predicted, which was 3.6%, according to The Wall Street Journal. The economy did better than last month's high job growth of 372,000, which was also better than expected. This shows that the Federal Reserve's interest rate has not started to slow down the economy.
The economy as a whole added jobs in July, but the leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care sectors added the most. At 62.1%, the labor force participation rate stayed below what it was in February 2020, before the pandemic, when it was at 63.4%.
The report says that the average monthly gain over the last four months was 388,000.
Payroll employment rises by 528,000 in July; unemployment rate edges down to 3.5% https://t.co/1Y9cSWJUIB #JobsReport #BLSdata
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) August 5, 2022
Previous DCNF reports show that the U.S. economy has had three consecutive quarters with negative GDP, which some people think is the definition of a recession.
But the Biden administration and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have said that a strong labor market is one reason why the economy is not yet in a recession. This is because the National Bureau of Economic Research, which is the semi-official arbiter, defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months" and, among other things, looks at employment statistics to see if this has happened.
“I do not think the U.S. is currently in a recession. And the reason is there are just too many areas of the economy that are performing too well. Powell said this last week after the central bank raised interest rates by 0.75 percent to a new target range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent.
A recent report from the National Federation of Independent Business shows that there are far more job openings than unemployed people. This makes it very hard for businesses to find people to hire.
Still, E.J. Antoni, a research fellow in regional economics at the Heritage Foundation, said that the report was not very convincing. “Despite a blockbuster headline number, the labor market data continues to be a mixed bag. The labor force participation rate fell yet again in July, artificially pushing the unemployment number down.” Antoni said to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Antoni also pointed out a difference between the household survey and the establishment survey. According to the household survey, only 179,000 jobs were added in July.
“The number of jobs added might be closer to 150k, not half a million. The labor market definitely has considerable chinks in its armor and is not nearly as robust as the headlines would have us believe.”
When the DCNF asked the White House for a comment, they did not answer right away.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Daily Caler.
