The U.S. labor market remained a bright spot in the economy last month despite mounting talks of a recession, data from the Labor Department showed Friday.
Here are the key numbers from Friday’s report:
- Non-farm payrolls: plus-372,000 versus plus-268,000 expected, and a revised plus-384,000 in May
- Unemployment rate: 3.6% versus 3.6% expected, and 3.6% in May
- Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: plus-0.3% versus plus-0.3% expected, and a revised plus-0.4% in May
- Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: plus-5.1% versus plus-5.0% expected, and a revised plus-5.3% in May
The latest data reflects a slightly slower pace of hiring from May, which saw payrolls rise by a revised 384,000. The Labor Department previously reported an increase of 390,000 jobs during the month.
Prior to June and May’s releases, the U.S. economy had added at least 400,000 jobs each month over the last year, bringing employment within 1% of pre-pandemic levels. Monthly job gains remain robust on a historical basis, however, as monthly payroll gains averaged about 164,000 per month in 2019.
At the industry level, services-based employers again led gains in June as companies rushed to hire back workers laid off during the pandemic, with a return to in-person activities after the pandemic driving consumer demand. Employment in the leisure and hospitality industry increased by 67,000 jobs, though at a slower rate than last month’s increase of 84,000.
Click here to read the full report from Alexandra Semenova at Yahoo Finance.