BLS Reports Unemployment Remains Above 4% Despite July Job Gains

The unemployment rate remained above 4% in July despite job gains made during the month, according to data released Friday (Aug. 1) by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in July, roughly stable versus the three months prior, the BLS said in a Friday press release.

July’s employment gains totaled 73,000 jobs, exceeding June’s revised total of 14,000 jobs. The month’s gains were led by private industries, which added 83,000 jobs. Service providers added 96,000 jobs, while goods-producing firms lost 13,000. Gains from private industries amounted to just 3,000 in June after being gauged at 69,000 in May on seasonally adjusted terms.

BLS said in the release that its revisions for May and June were “larger than normal.” The agency revised down the job gains in May from the previous 144,000 to 19,000 and revised down the job gains in June from 147,000 to 14,000.

“Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors,” BLS said in the release.

Reuters reported Friday that an analyst said the revision of the June figure is “frankly pretty shocking,” while Bloomberg reported that the May and June revisions are “stunning.”

Curt Long, chief economist at America’s Credit Unions, said Friday that with “modest” gains in July and a revised gain of 14,000 jobs in June, the jobs report was “poor.”

“This report reframes several debates including the overall momentum in the economy, the impact of tariffs and the prospect for rate cuts,” Long said in a statement emailed to PYMNTS. “Market expectations for a September rate cut jumped on the release of the report, and a cut by the October [Federal Open Market Committee] meeting is fully priced in.”

According to the BLS’ Friday press release, employment continued to trend up in healthcare and in social assistance in July. Healthcare added 55,000 jobs, above the average monthly gain of 42,000 over the prior 12 months, while social assistance added 18,000 jobs as employment continued to trend up. Federal government employment continued to decline in July, losing 12,000 jobs, and is down by 84,000 since reaching a peak in January.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose 0.3% to $36.44 in July. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.9%. This surpasses the 2.6% yearlong increase in prices for June as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data released earlier this week.

Another job market release from this week was the Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Summary data also provided by BLS, which showed job openings declining to 7.4 million, nearly 300,000 fewer than in May, but unchanged compared to the same month last year. The job opening rate also fell, dropping to 4.4% from 4.6% in May. Hiring slowed, falling by 261,000 to 5.2 million. Separations remained largely constant.

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