U.S. Hiring Slows Sharply in June As Payroll Growth Misses Forecasts
By CU Today Staff —
WASHINGTON—U.S. employers added just 57,000 jobs in June, well below economists' expectations of approximately 110,000, signaling a significant cooling in the labor market even as the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2% from 4.3%.
The weaker-than-expected report also included downward revisions of 74,000 jobs for April and May combined, reinforcing signs that hiring has slowed after several months of stronger gains, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and reporting by Reuters.
Professional and business services led June's job gains with 36,000 new positions, followed by social assistance (25,000) and healthcare (22,000). Leisure and hospitality, however, lost 61,000 jobs, while the labor force participation rate fell to 61.5%, helping push the unemployment rate lower despite the slowdown in hiring. Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% during the month and were up 3.5% from a year earlier.
"June job growth came below expectations, but the three-month average pace of hiring still runs ahead of last year's, so the labor market retains more momentum than this report implies," said America's Credit Unions' Senior Economist Dawit Kebede. "The unemployment rate declined, but that reflected more people stepping out of the labor force than workers finding jobs. Markets have moved to price higher odds of a rate hike before year-end as inflation is still the dominant concern. With wage growth continuing to trail inflation, households are steadily losing purchasing power even as the labor market holds together."
Originally reported by CU Today.