372,000 Jobs added in June: Labor Dept.

While inflation has been eating into wages and interest rates, the US economy powered through June with broad-based hiring on par with recent months keeping the country clear from the recession territory. According to the Labor Department, employers added 372,000  jobs in the month of June and the unemployment rate was at 3.6% which has been unchanged since May and near a 50-year low. 

The job growth in June exceeded the forecasts by economists by roughly 100,000. This offers some reassurance that a sharper downturn isn’t underway. The report also shows bigger wage gains than expected, which could give the Federal Reserve some leeway to beat back inflation. 

Over the last three months, employment growth averaged at a solid 375,000 which is still a drop from the monthly pace of 539,000 in the first quarter of this year. In recent months, employers have been trying to hang on to workers. Initial unemployment claims have only risen slightly from their low point in March. Meanwhile, the private sector has regained its prepandemic employment level. Other than the public sector, no other broad industries lost jobs in June, on a seasonally adjusted basis. 

Source: The Washington Post