US employment rose in July as the economy added 528,000 jobs, defying all expectations of a slowdownaccording to official data published this Friday.
While, the unemployment rate fell to the pre-pandemic low of 3.5 percent, amid widespread job gains, the Labor Department reported. Total nonfarm employment also recovered to its pre-pandemic level, the data showed.
At the same time, stock futures are down. The S&P Futures fell almost 1%, the Dow Futures fell 0.64%, the Nasdaq Futures fell 1.15% and the Russell 2000 Futures fell 0.86% at 13:00 GMT, minutes before the opening.
The employment data defied all expectations of a slowdown. Even the White House agreed with most economists in predicting the increase would slow to just 250,000 in the month.what the president Joe Biden he said it was part of the natural slowdown after the rapid rebound of the world’s largest economy from the pandemic.
In the meantime, wages rose, with average hourly earnings 15 cents higher than in Junewhich surely will increase concerns about inflationas the Federal Reserve aggressively raises interest rates to cool the economy amid the highest price gains in more than 40 years.
Hiring was strong in leisure, hospitality and healthcareeach of which added 96,000 or more jobs, while manufacturing and construction gained 32,000 or more.
Builders have struggled for months to find workers to meet high construction demand, but employment in the sector is now back to its pre-pandemic level, according to the report.
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