Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.8 million in July, according to the latest nonfarm payroll report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This last month’s employment gains mark a decline from the 4.8 million increase in June and the 2.7 million increase in May.
The unemployment rate fell by 0.9 percentage points down to 10.2%, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 1.4 million to 16.3 million. Despite these declines, the unemployment rate has risen 6.7 percentage points since February, and the number of unemployed persons has risen by 10.6 million over the same period.
The number of unemployed persons on temporary layoff fell by 1.3 million to 9.2 million in July, down to about half of April’s levels. The number of permanent job losers and unemployed reentrants into the workforce, 2.9 million and 2.4 million, respectively, remained virtually unchanged.
The number of persons jobless for less than five weeks rose by 364,000 to 3.2 million, while the number of persons jobless for five to 14 weeks fell by 6.3 million down to 5.2 million. The number of long-term unemployed persons remained little changed at 1.5 million.
““This morning’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates the labor market continues to recover from its trough earlier this year, albeit at a slower pace than in last month’s report,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “While still a robust gain, this deceleration is consistent with other indicators showing that the pace of improvement in the labor market has slowed.”
The number of persons who are employed part time for economic purposes fell by 619,000 to 8.4 million in July. According to the BLS, this reflects a decline in the number of people whose hours were cut due to business conditions. This number, which includes persons who usually work full time or otherwise would prefer full-time employment, is 4.1 million higher than it was in February.
Broken down by demographic, unemployment rates declined by 9.4% for adult men, 10.5% for adult women, 19.3% for teenagers, 9.2% for white workers, 12% for Asian workers, and 12.9% for Hispanic workers. The unemployment rate for Black workers—14.6%—showed little change month over month.
The largest employment gains by sector occurred in leisure and hospitality, which gained 592,000 new jobs and accounted for about one-third of the total gain. Food services employment rose by 502,000, and government employment rose by 301,000.
Construction gained approximately 20,000 new jobs in July, following 619,000 gains in May and June combined. Industry employment remains 444,000 jobs below February levels.
“The housing market has been a bright spot in the economy, but has continued to suffer from a lack of housing supply,” says Odeta Kushi, First American deputy chief economist, in response to this data. “Residential building jobs rebounded strongly in May and June from April’s low point, which was the lowest level since 2016. In the most recent report, jobs in residential building increased by 2% compared to one month ago, still 3.2% below its February level, but moving closer to pre-pandemic levels … Lack of available labor is one of several headwinds faced by home builders today. Today’s report is not only a signal that the broader labor market continues to rebound, but welcome news for a housing market in desperate need of more supply. You can’t have more construction without more builders.”
