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U.S. Added 164,000 Jobs in July; Unemployment Rate at 3.7 Percent
Source: New York Times
The Numbers
Just two days after the Federal Reserve moved to ward off economic snags by paring interest rates, the monthly jobs report signals that the labor market is maintaining its energy during a record-long hiring streak. While last month's payroll additions did not match the thumping gains in June, July's numbers show that employers continue to make room for new job seekers.
"These things bounce around," Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said of the Labor Department's employment report. "But the trend is still strong enough to keep unemployment down." The number of new applicants applying for unemployment insurance has stayed low. And as long as employers create roughly 100,000 jobs each month, the labor market can keep pace with population growth and the jobless rate will hold steady. The report reinforces the Fed's stance that the economy's underpinnings remain strong, even though it is unlikely to temper the push for further rate cuts from investors and President Trump.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/business/economy/july-jobs-report.html
Our resident DU economic analysts should be along soon. TGIF!
33 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
And especially for that further downward revision going back to May as well. 
ETA this -
Lots of downward revisions of past reports today!
I experienced the same thing with the hung site (I think that was when I was looking at it at ~9:40 am EDT). Looking at it now, it came up instantly.
Thanks for that analysis! 
There's an undercurrent of something going on that I can't put my finger definitely on yet - i.e., something as sinister as a significant uptick in coordinated armed robberies - including where I live - the manner of which suggests whole criminal operations have set up shop in this city. 
ECONOMY & JOBS
U.S. Economy Added 164,000 New Jobs in July; Nominal Average Wages Increased 3.2 Percent Over the Past 12 Months
August 2, 2019 4 minute read
Council of Economic Advisers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly Employment Situation Report, showcasing robust employment and an acceleration in wage growth. Total nonfarm payroll employment in July increased by 164,000 jobs, in line with market expectations (165,000). Including revisions for the months of May and June, the average pace of job growth has been a vigorous 187,000 jobs per month over the past year and 165,000 jobs so far in 2019, which is higher than CBO or the Federal Reserve anticipated for this cycle. The 12-month average remains above the 2017 average of 179,000 jobs gained per month. In total, the economy has added over 6.2 million jobs since the President was elected.
The July jobs report revealed yet another month of strong job growth. Since the President was elected, job gains have surpassed 100,000 jobs in 29 of the 32 months. The average job growth over the past 6 months is a healthy 141,000 jobs. Considering the unprecedented length of the expansion, job gains are strong. In July 2019, just over 6 million people were unemployed, compared with more than 14 million in July 2009 at the beginning of the economic expansion. Given low unemployment, monthly job gains of this size indicate that the labor market is truly flourishing.
Education and health services industry led job growth in July adding 66,000 jobs. The professional and business services sector saw the second largest job growth, an increase of 38,000 jobs. Manufacturing jobs increased as well, gaining 16,000 jobs in July, including 7,200 jobs in motor vehicle and parts manufacturing. Since the President’s election, the manufacturing industry has added 523,000 jobs and added 157,000 jobs in the past 12 months.
In July, wages continued to grow as well. Nominal average hourly earnings rose 3.2 percent over the past 12 months, marking the 12th straight month that year-over-year wage gains were at or above 3 percent (see figure). Prior to 2018, nominal average hourly wage gains had not reached 3 percent in over 10 years (since April 2009). Nominal wage growth has accelerated since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). When taking inflation into account, there is evidence that real wages are also growing. Based on the most recent Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index data from June, inflation in the past year was 1.4 percent, and based on the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) price data from June, the inflation in the past year was 1.6 percent (July inflation data is not yet available for either series).
A separate household survey released by BLS shows that the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent in July, making July the 17th consecutive month at or below 4 percent. The labor market also continues to benefit all Americans. The African American unemployment rate remained at 6.0 percent, just above the historic low of 5.9 percent set in May 2018, and the African-American teen unemployment rate dropped to its lowest rate since the series began in 1972. The U-6 unemployment rate, which is a broader measure of underutilization in the labor market that includes those looking for work, marginally attached to the labor force, and part-time for economic reasons, hit 7.0 percent, its lowest point since 2000.
The labor force participation rate—which includes people who are working and those looking for work—edged up by 0.1 percentage point to 63.0 percent and is 0.3 percentage point above the rate when the President was elected in November 2016. The labor force participation rate for prime-age adults (ages 25-54), which largely avoids the demographic effects of the aging population, decreased by 0.2 percentage point to at 82.0 percent—0.6 percentage point above its rate in November 2016.
The Trump Administration’s pro-growth policies continue to pull workers off the sidelines and foster a prosperous economy. Despite the continued low unemployment rates over the past year, there may still be workers on the sidelines, a situation economists refer to as “labor slack.” Because labor market slack still exists, employment can continue to rise and the economy can continue to grow as workers reenter the labor force. In July, 73.8 percent of workers entering employment came from out of the labor force rather than from unemployment.
The July employment data demonstrate that the American economy remains strong, with a consistently low unemployment rate, strong wage growth, and robust job gains.
U.S. Economy Added 164,000 New Jobs in July; Nominal Average Wages Increased 3.2 Percent Over the Past 12 Months
August 2, 2019 4 minute read
Council of Economic Advisers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly Employment Situation Report, showcasing robust employment and an acceleration in wage growth. Total nonfarm payroll employment in July increased by 164,000 jobs, in line with market expectations (165,000). Including revisions for the months of May and June, the average pace of job growth has been a vigorous 187,000 jobs per month over the past year and 165,000 jobs so far in 2019, which is higher than CBO or the Federal Reserve anticipated for this cycle. The 12-month average remains above the 2017 average of 179,000 jobs gained per month. In total, the economy has added over 6.2 million jobs since the President was elected.
The July jobs report revealed yet another month of strong job growth. Since the President was elected, job gains have surpassed 100,000 jobs in 29 of the 32 months. The average job growth over the past 6 months is a healthy 141,000 jobs. Considering the unprecedented length of the expansion, job gains are strong. In July 2019, just over 6 million people were unemployed, compared with more than 14 million in July 2009 at the beginning of the economic expansion. Given low unemployment, monthly job gains of this size indicate that the labor market is truly flourishing.
Education and health services industry led job growth in July adding 66,000 jobs. The professional and business services sector saw the second largest job growth, an increase of 38,000 jobs. Manufacturing jobs increased as well, gaining 16,000 jobs in July, including 7,200 jobs in motor vehicle and parts manufacturing. Since the President’s election, the manufacturing industry has added 523,000 jobs and added 157,000 jobs in the past 12 months.
In July, wages continued to grow as well. Nominal average hourly earnings rose 3.2 percent over the past 12 months, marking the 12th straight month that year-over-year wage gains were at or above 3 percent (see figure). Prior to 2018, nominal average hourly wage gains had not reached 3 percent in over 10 years (since April 2009). Nominal wage growth has accelerated since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). When taking inflation into account, there is evidence that real wages are also growing. Based on the most recent Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index data from June, inflation in the past year was 1.4 percent, and based on the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) price data from June, the inflation in the past year was 1.6 percent (July inflation data is not yet available for either series).
A separate household survey released by BLS shows that the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent in July, making July the 17th consecutive month at or below 4 percent. The labor market also continues to benefit all Americans. The African American unemployment rate remained at 6.0 percent, just above the historic low of 5.9 percent set in May 2018, and the African-American teen unemployment rate dropped to its lowest rate since the series began in 1972. The U-6 unemployment rate, which is a broader measure of underutilization in the labor market that includes those looking for work, marginally attached to the labor force, and part-time for economic reasons, hit 7.0 percent, its lowest point since 2000.
The labor force participation rate—which includes people who are working and those looking for work—edged up by 0.1 percentage point to 63.0 percent and is 0.3 percentage point above the rate when the President was elected in November 2016. The labor force participation rate for prime-age adults (ages 25-54), which largely avoids the demographic effects of the aging population, decreased by 0.2 percentage point to at 82.0 percent—0.6 percentage point above its rate in November 2016.
The Trump Administration’s pro-growth policies continue to pull workers off the sidelines and foster a prosperous economy. Despite the continued low unemployment rates over the past year, there may still be workers on the sidelines, a situation economists refer to as “labor slack.” Because labor market slack still exists, employment can continue to rise and the economy can continue to grow as workers reenter the labor force. In July, 73.8 percent of workers entering employment came from out of the labor force rather than from unemployment.
The July employment data demonstrate that the American economy remains strong, with a consistently low unemployment rate, strong wage growth, and robust job gains.
I.e., millennials and Xgens, which is the core of the working population. And there may be all kinds of reasons for this including things like "shared living", which then precludes what is essentially the largest living expense - housing...
January 31, 2018
More adults now share their living space, driven in part by parents living with their adult children
Adults who live in someone else’s household typically live with a relative. Today, 14% of adults living in someone else’s household are a parent of the household head, up from 7% in 1995. Some 47% of extra adults today are adult children living in their mom and/or dad’s home, down from 52% in 1995. Other examples of extra adults are a sibling living in the home of a brother or sister, or a roommate.
In 2017, only 18% of extra adults lived in a household in which the head was unrelated (typically a housemate or roommate). Living with nonrelatives has become less prevalent since 1995, when 22% of extra adults lived with a nonrelative.
Regardless of their relationship to the household head, young adults are more likely than middle-aged or older adults to live in someone else’s household. Among those younger than 35, 30% were the extra adult in someone else’s household in 2017, up from 26% in 1995. Among 35- to 54-year-olds, 12% were living in someone else’s household, an increase from 9% in 1995. Today 10% of 55- to 64-year-olds are an extra adult, up from 6% in 1995. The only adult group that isn’t more likely than before to live in another adult’s household is those ages 75 and older (10% in both years).
The rise in shared living may have implications for the nature of household finances – that is, how income and expenses are shared among members.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/31/more-adults-now-share-their-living-space-driven-in-part-by-parents-living-with-their-adult-children/
More adults now share their living space, driven in part by parents living with their adult children
Adults who live in someone else’s household typically live with a relative. Today, 14% of adults living in someone else’s household are a parent of the household head, up from 7% in 1995. Some 47% of extra adults today are adult children living in their mom and/or dad’s home, down from 52% in 1995. Other examples of extra adults are a sibling living in the home of a brother or sister, or a roommate.
In 2017, only 18% of extra adults lived in a household in which the head was unrelated (typically a housemate or roommate). Living with nonrelatives has become less prevalent since 1995, when 22% of extra adults lived with a nonrelative.
Regardless of their relationship to the household head, young adults are more likely than middle-aged or older adults to live in someone else’s household. Among those younger than 35, 30% were the extra adult in someone else’s household in 2017, up from 26% in 1995. Among 35- to 54-year-olds, 12% were living in someone else’s household, an increase from 9% in 1995. Today 10% of 55- to 64-year-olds are an extra adult, up from 6% in 1995. The only adult group that isn’t more likely than before to live in another adult’s household is those ages 75 and older (10% in both years).
The rise in shared living may have implications for the nature of household finances – that is, how income and expenses are shared among members.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/31/more-adults-now-share-their-living-space-driven-in-part-by-parents-living-with-their-adult-children/
In essence, without the above type of situation going on, the participation rates might be quite different. I.e., in order to afford individual housing, the costs have far exceeded the types of jobs required to buy or rent, forcing people often in that age group, to share housing (or continue to live at home), which inturn reduces the impetus to "participate" (employment wise) outside of 1-off "gig" jobs (as long as there are some shared resources enough to survive).
From the BLS Twitter account:
See our interactive graphics on today’s #JobsReport http://go.usa.gov/cn5B4 #BLSdata #DataViz
Link to tweet
Understanding BLS Unemployment Statistics … #JobsReport #BLSdata
Link to tweet
More charts and analysis on the July nonfarm payroll employment numbers http://go.usa.gov/4UqY #JobsReport #BLSdata
Link to tweet
* * * * *
If you don't have the time to read anything else, read this. It is what the talking heads will recite on the TV news tonight.
Economic News Release
Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation
Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Statement of
William W. Beach
Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Friday, August 2, 2019
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent. Notable job gains occurred in professional and technical services, health care, social assistance, and financial activities.
The July increase in payroll employment was in line with the average monthly job gain in the first half of the year (+165,000), but below the average monthly job gain of 223,000 for 2018. (Incorporating revisions for May and June, which decreased employment by 41,000, monthly job gains have averaged 140,000 over the past 3 months.)
....
Among the unemployed, the number of people looking for work for less than 5 weeks rose by 240,000 in July to 2.2 million. This was offset by a decline in the number of people searching for work for 27 weeks or more, which fell by 248,000 to 1.2 million. These long-term unemployed accounted for 19.2 percent of the unemployed.
Both the labor force participation rate, at 63.0 percent in July, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.7 percent, were little changed over the month and over the year.
In July, 4.0 million people were working part time for economic reasons, down by 363,000 over the month and by 604,000 over the year. These involuntary part-time workers accounted for 2.5 percent of the employed in July, down from 2.9 percent a year earlier.
Among those neither working nor looking for work in July, 1.5 million were considered marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (People who are marginally attached to the labor force had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked for a job within the last 12 months.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 368,000 in July, down by 144,000 from a year earlier.
In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in July, and the unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent.
Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation
Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Statement of
William W. Beach
Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Friday, August 2, 2019
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7 percent. Notable job gains occurred in professional and technical services, health care, social assistance, and financial activities.
The July increase in payroll employment was in line with the average monthly job gain in the first half of the year (+165,000), but below the average monthly job gain of 223,000 for 2018. (Incorporating revisions for May and June, which decreased employment by 41,000, monthly job gains have averaged 140,000 over the past 3 months.)
....
Among the unemployed, the number of people looking for work for less than 5 weeks rose by 240,000 in July to 2.2 million. This was offset by a decline in the number of people searching for work for 27 weeks or more, which fell by 248,000 to 1.2 million. These long-term unemployed accounted for 19.2 percent of the unemployed.
Both the labor force participation rate, at 63.0 percent in July, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.7 percent, were little changed over the month and over the year.
In July, 4.0 million people were working part time for economic reasons, down by 363,000 over the month and by 604,000 over the year. These involuntary part-time workers accounted for 2.5 percent of the employed in July, down from 2.9 percent a year earlier.
Among those neither working nor looking for work in July, 1.5 million were considered marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (People who are marginally attached to the labor force had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked for a job within the last 12 months.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 368,000 in July, down by 144,000 from a year earlier.
In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 164,000 in July, and the unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent.
* * * * *
It used to be that you could get free access to articles in The Wall Street Journal. by going in through TWSJ.'s Twitter account or the Twitter accounts of the authors:
How to get around the paywall to read articles in The Wall Street Journal.:
For free access to articles in The Wall Street Journal., try going in through the authors' Twitter feeds:
For free access to articles in The Wall Street Journal., try going in through the authors' Twitter feeds:
This trick doesn't seem to work anymore, but you might be able to get in if they've slipped up. Here are those accounts:
* * * * *
The Wall Street Journal.: @WSJ
https://twitter.com/wsj
Wall Street Journal
Breaking news and features from the WSJ.
* * * * *
Ben Leubsdorf: @BenLeubsdorf
https://twitter.com/BenLeubsdorf
I cover the economy at @WSJ. @ConMonitorNews, @AP, @the_herald alum. DC native. Hyperactive news omnivore. Also I like burritos. ben.leubsdorf@wsj.com
* * * * *
Josh Zumbrun: ?@JoshZumbrun
https://twitter.com/JoshZumbrun
National economics correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. Covering the world's usual state of greed and disorder, confusion and apathy. josh.zumbrun@wsj.com
* * * * *
Nick Timiraos: @NickTimiraos
https://twitter.com/NickTimiraos
National economics correspondent, The Wall Street Journal
Please look at the tweets, as Nick Timiraos likes to slice and dice the data every which way. Also, link to the "11 charts " article from his Twitter feed to get past TWSJ.'s paywall.
* * * * *
Jeffrey Sparshott: @jeffsparshott
https://twitter.com/jeffsparshott
Jeffrey.Sparshott@wsj.com
* * * * *
Paul Vigna: @paulvigna
https://twitter.com/paulvigna
Markets, bitcoin, and the zombie apocalypse.
* * * * *
Eric Morath: @EricMorath
https://twitter.com/EricMorath
Eric.Morath@wsj.com
I'm a Wall Street Journal economy reporter, dad, husband and Spartan for life. eric.morath@wsj.com
Washington DC
blogs.wsj.com/economics/
* * * * *
Sarah Chaney: ?@sechaney
https://twitter.com/sechaney
Economy Reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Tar Heel. sarah.chaney@wsj.com
* * * * *
A) Tariffs are taxes on working class Americans.
B) You can't tax yourself into prosperity.
Link to tweet
Indeed Hiring Lab
State of the Labor Market
July 2019 Jobs Report: Solid but Not Sensational Job Growth
August 2, 2019 by Martha Gimbel | https://twitter.com/marthagimbel
July 2019 Jobs Report: Solid but Not Sensational Job Growth
August 2, 2019 by Martha Gimbel | https://twitter.com/marthagimbel
State of the Labor Market
Jobs Day Preview: With Job Growth Slowing Down, Where Are the Bright Spots?
July 30, 2019 by Martha Gimbel | https://twitter.com/marthagimbel
Jobs Day Preview: With Job Growth Slowing Down, Where Are the Bright Spots?
July 30, 2019 by Martha Gimbel | https://twitter.com/marthagimbel
I saw an OP about this too - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142357662
Happy Hump Day (I think.... 
)!
All the monthly data right here!! 
Heat is supposed to break by Friday. Hope you don't get any tornadoes down there though as I know the beltway area is a hotbed for them. 
