Job Growth Surges In June, Unemployment Drops To 6.1%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Nonfarm Payrolls, which is one of the most closely followed gauges regarding the state of the economy, increased by 288K in the month of June.

The increase in the number of new jobs was well above the consensus estimates for an increase of 218K and also above May’s revised 224K (April: 304K, March: 203K, February: 197K, January: 129K, December: 84K, November: 244K, October: 200K, September: 163K August: 193K, July: 89K).

As usual, there were revisions to the prior two months’ reports. May’s report saw an increase of 7K from 217K to 224K while April’s job totals was also revised higher by 22K to 304K from 282K.

This means the economy created 29,000 more new jobs in the prior two months than had been previously reported.

The private sector job growth also continued to be strong in June. The private sector produced 262,000 jobs, which was slightly below the 281,000 level reported in Wednesday’s ADP report.

Related Link: ADP Says Private Sector Job Growth Surged In June

The nation’s Unemployment Rate declined to 6.1 percent in June which is down 0.2 percent from the 6.3 percent level seen in May.

June’s unemployment rate is the lowest since June, 2008.

The Labor Force Participation Rate, came in unchanged for the month at 62.8 percent (May: 62.8 percent, April: 62.8 percent, March: 63.2 percent, February: 63.0 percent, January: 63.0 percent, December: 62.3 percent, November: 63.0 percent).

It should be noted that payroll totals now exceed the pre-2008 recession levels.

Next, the average number of weekly hours worked was reported at 34.5, which was in line with the expectations for 34.5 and last month’s 34.5.

Finally, the average hourly earnings of workers increased by 0.2 percent, which was in line with the consensus expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent.

Stock futures have held steady on the news, perhaps due to the fact that expectations have been running high for this report. In addition, it is worth noting that the improving jobs market may cause some traders to worry about the Fed being forced to take action sooner than the markets anticipate.

Posted In: NewsEcon #sEconomicsPre-Market Outlook
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