07 Aug U.S. Added 215,000 Jobs In July, Unemployment Rate Steady At 5.3%
By: Samantha Sharf, Forbes Staff
In line with economist expectations employers added 215,000 jobs in July, according to the latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistic Friday morning. The unemployment rate came in at 5.3% for the second month in a row, that’s the lowest rate since April 2008.
The revisions to previous month’s reports were also positive. The payroll count for May was revised up to plus 260,000 from the latest reading of plus 254,000. June’s figure was revised up to plus 231,000 from plus 223,000 jobs. Net total employment gains in May and June were therefore 14,000 higher than BLS previously reported.
The sectors that added the most jobs were: retail trade (36,000), health care (28,000) and professional and technical services (27,000). Mining was the only major industry to lose jobs, cutting 5,000.
Currently 8.3 million Americans are unemployed, down 1.4 million year-over-year. In July there were 668,000 discouraged workers — i.e. people not currently looking for work because they don’t believe jobs are available for them and therefore are not considered unemployed.
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