BLS: 222,000 Jobs Added in June, Unemployment Up Slightly to 4.4 Percent

The latest jobs numbers are out from the federal government. What do they mean for job seekers and employers? Here’s a quick take from Glassdoor’s Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain: This morning’s jobs report revealed a booming labor market this summer, with 222,000 new jobs added to payrolls in June -- well above most economists’ expectations. The nation’s unemployment rate remained largely unchanged at 4.4 percent -- up 0.1 percent from last month thanks to a whopping 361,000 new workers who joined the labor force in June. One weak point in today’s report is continued weakness in average hourly wage gains. Average hourly wages were up 2.5 percent from a year ago, to $26.25 per hour. That pace of growth has slowed from earlier this year, and is consistent with the trend toward slowing pay growth we see in Glassdoor’s Local Pay Reports. In our June Local Pay Reports, median base pay for full-time U.S. workers was up just 1.7 percent -- a pace that’s slowed for five consecutive months. That's below today's 1.9 percent annual pace of CPI inflation. The strongest job gains by industry in June were similar to previous months this year. The biggest gains were in health care (+59,100 jobs), leisure and hospitality (+36,000 jobs), professional services (+35,000 jobs), government (+35,000 jobs), and finance (+17,000 jobs). Even the troubled retail sector added jobs for the first time since January, adding 8,100 jobs in June. By contrast, the biggest job losses were in non-durable goods manufacturing (-8,000 jobs), information (which includes most media) (-4,000 jobs), and motor vehicle and parts manufacturing (-1,300 jobs). Overall, today’s robust jobs report reveals a resilient U.S. economy -- one that poses a dilemma for Fed policymakers. The combination of red-hot job growth and low unemployment with stubbornly sluggish wage growth sends a mixed signal to Fed officials on whether, and how fast, to continue dialing interest rates back to normal levels. Today marks the economy’s eight-year anniversary since the end of the Great Recession. Despite many headwinds facing the U.S. economy, the June jobs report confirms that there are few signs that today’s red-hot labor market will be slowing anytime soon. To speak with Dr. Andrew Chamberlain about today’s jobs report or to discuss labor market trends, contact pr at Glassdoor dot com. For the latest economics and labor market updates, follow @adchamberlain on Twitter and subscribe to Glassdoor Economic Research.