The American jobs report for the month of June released on Friday showed very encouraging results, with an estimated 287,000 jobs added.
This comes after a dismal May report in which only 11,000 jobs were added. June’s figures well exceeded expectations— few analysts predicted a figure much exceeding 200,000.
June’s significant employment gains are an encouraging sign for the overall economy, particularly considering both the poor gains reported earlier in the year and the fallout from Brexit, which has affected the value of the dollar.
Wages also saw a significant hike from previous months; it was reported that wages are 2.6 percent higher than they were during June 2015. While this rate of wage growth is not extremely remarkable, it is still welcomed.
Although the official unemployment rate jumped by two-tenths of a percent— from 4.7 percent to 4.9— this is not thought to be a bad sign for the American economy. In large part, it suggests that more individuals are looking for employment than in previous months.
Despite healthy gains in employment and wages, the Federal Reserve is not expected to raise interest rates later this month. They had previously signaled that there was little to no change of a hike, following Brexit and May’s disappointing report.
This report does do one thing for certain: the Fed won’t cut interest rates. Some media outlets had speculated that a cut could be in the cards.
The American stock market reacted well to June’s jobs report.
