Key Points:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 187,000 in July and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.5%.
- Consensus among economists was a gain of 200,000 jobs.
- The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised down by 25,000, from 306,000 to 281,000, and the change for June was revised down by 24,000, from 209,000 to 185,000.
- In July, health care added 63,000 jobs, social assistance added 24,000 jobs, financial activities increased by 19,000, and wholesale trade increased by 18,000.
- Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, manufacturing, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government.
- In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.14 to $33.74.
- The average workweek for all private employees edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours.
- The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.6% for the fifth consecutive month and is 0.7% below its February 2020 level.
- In July, the unemployed population fell to 5.8 million but there were 9.6 million job openings in June.