Job Growth Bounces Back in June
Unemployment Moves Up Slightly But Remains Low
JOB GROWTH: Following disappointing numbers in May, employment surged in June, reaching 224,000. Despite the roller coaster over the past two months, monthly job gains have averaged 172,000 to date in 2019.
TOP INDUSTRIES: Professional and business services, healthcare and transportation and warehousing were the three sectors showing the most activity in June.
UNEMPLOYMENT: For the first time since January, the unemployment rate moved up rather than down, coming in at 3.7% in June, still a near-record low but 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month.
WAGES: June saw only a slight gain in wages, with average hourly earnings for the year holding steady at 3.1%.
WORK WEEK: The average work week remained steady at 34.4 hours in June.
TEMPORARY JOB TRENDS: Temporary jobs continue to trend downward, although another 4,300 were added in June.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? The slowing of job growth in May created worries in some quarters which may have been unfounded, as job growth in June rebounded nicely. The economy continues to expand, albeit at a slower pace than a year ago. Wages again inched up, although the pace of growth is significantly less than anticipated, given the tightness of the labor supply. There is evidence that more people are entering the labor force, taking advantage of the best hiring environment in decades. The number of new entrants, however, is not robust enough to match the number of open positions. Under these conditions, employers continue to struggle to fill many of the key positions needed to power their growth.
This newsletter references the BLS Report of June activity, released 7/5/19
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Steinberg Employment Research, CNBC, CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, FOX News, Reuters
