The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in June, but the unemployment rate still inched higher.
According to Fox Business:
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 850,000 workers in June as the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.9%, the Labor Department said Friday. Analysts surveyed by Refintiv were expecting the addition of 700,000 and the unemployment rate to fall to 5.7%.
The increase in the unemployment rate came despite the labor force participation rate remaining flat at 61.6%.
Breaking News
Jobs Report Beats Consensus but disappointing
850,000 total
662,000 private sector (so-so)
5.9% U3 unemployment rate (higher)
+151,000 labor force (weak)
-18,000 Employed Household Survey
Hourly wages $30.40 +$0.10
Hours worked declinedShould have been much better
— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) July 2, 2021
As Carol Roth noted, the main reason that the jobs numbers beat expectations is simply because expectations have been lowered.
#JobsReport continued upward trend, better than expectations, which shouldn't be a surprise w many states opting out of enhanced unemployment benefits. However, remember that a couple of months ago expectations were around a million, so lowered expectations produce better optics
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) July 2, 2021
Sizable job gains were seen in leisure and hospitality (+343,000), public and private education (+269,000), professional and business services (+72,000), retail trade (+67,000), and other services (+56,000).
The gains in leisure and hospitality come as 26 Republican led states ended the $300 enhanced federal unemployment benefits that were attributed by a labor shortage in that sector (and others).
The benefits are set to expire nationally on their own on September 6th, but the 26 states ended them earlier last month, impacting 3.8 million people. A report from the Foundation for Government found that in the immediate aftermath “The 26 states that have announced their plan to end participation in the $300 weekly unemployment bonus have seen a 12.7 percent decline on average in initial claims over the past week,” while states that kept paying them saw claims increase 1.6%.
Still, employment in leisure and hospitality are 2.2 million jobs shy of where they were pre-pandemic in February 2020.
Matt Palumbo is the author of Dumb and Dumber: How Cuomo and de Blasio Ruined New York, Debunk This: Shattering Liberal Lies, and Spygate
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