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U.S. Economy Adds 163K Jobs in July, Beating Consensus Forecast

Job Creation, Wage Growth and Participation Beat Forecasts in July

Series with themes reflecting a certain billionaire politician who won the 2016 presidential election touting a very strong labor market. (Photo: AdobeStock)

The U.S. economy added 163,000 jobs in July, wages grew by a faster pace and labor force participation ticked up to 63.0%. The increase in job-seekers kept the unemployment rate at 3.7% (chart).

However, the July jobs report marks the seventeenth straight month unemployment rate was at or below 4%. The number of long-term unemployed — or, those jobless for 27 weeks or more — fell by 248,000
to 1.2 million.

That’s the lowest number since June 2007.


IndicatorPriorRevisedConsensus ForecastForecast RangeActual
Nonfarm Payrolls – M/M ∆224,000 193,000 151,000 140,000  to 170,000 164,000 
Unemployment Rate3.7 %3.6 %3.6 % to 3.7 %3.7 %
Private Payrolls – M/M ∆191,000 179,000 160,000 150,000  to 165,000 148,000 
Manufacturing Payrolls – M/M ∆17,000 12,000 5,000 -5,000  to 10,000 16,000 
Participation Rate – level62.9 %63.0 %
Average Hourly Earnings – M/M ∆0.2 %0.3 %0.2 %0.2 % to 0.3 %0.3 %
Average Hourly Earnings – Y/Y ∆3.1 %3.1 %3.1 % to 3.2 %3.2 %
Avg Workweek – All Employees34.4 hrs34.4 hrs34.4 hrs to 34.5 hrs34.3 hrs

“This is a solid jobs report and although there are some modest downside revisions in the prior 2 months, the strength of the June report gave us a nice cushion to absorb those revisions,” Tim Anderson, analyst at TJM Investments said. “While the average workweek and overtime both declined by 0.1 hours, the labor force participation rate was the strongest internal metric of the report.”

The increase in the labor force participation rate was driven largely by African Americans, which rose significantly from 61.9% to 62.7%. It’s the second consecutive monthly gain for participation.

Manufacturing added 16,000 jobs in July after gaining by 12,000 in June. Employment gains in the manufacturing industry have averaged 22,000 per month in 2018.

Wage growth has exceeded 3% for twelve straight months.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents to $27.98, after another 8-cent increase in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 3.2%.

“With a 3.2% year-over-year increase, wage growth has now been at or exceeded 3.0% for an entire year,” Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella said in a statement. “America’s workers are taking home more money in their paychecks, which is great news for families and our economy.”

In July, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 4 cents to $23.46.

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Richard D. Baris

Rich, the People's Pundit, is the Data Journalism Editor at PPD and Director of the PPD Election Projection Model. He is also the Director of Big Data Poll, and author of "Our Virtuous Republic: The Forgotten Clause in the American Social Contract."

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  • Where are these Jobs? California, Washington, Detroit? I dont see many opening around Here.. and fast food jobs shouldn't count, i wanna see some extra Retirement Package Jobs opening.

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Richard D. Baris

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