Reflecting on the July Labor Department report
The big story this morning is the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, which says the U.S. economy added 163,000 jobs last month. The private sector accounted for all the job creation, adding 172,000. Government employment declined by 9,000, and the unemployment rate ticked up from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent.
For more, we bring in Chris Low, chief economist with FTN Financial. Says Low: “Stronger than last month and better than expected — that’s something to cheer about. But I think it’s also important to keep some perspective — 163,000 is not great. We need 200,000 or 250,000 to keep the unemployment rate going down…But look, at least it wasn’t as bad as it was the last three months in a row.”
For more analysis, listen to the full audio.
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