June Jobs Report: 224,000 Jobs Added, Unemployment At 3.7 Percent

The U.S. economy added 224,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate slightly increased to 3.7  percent, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.

Economists predicted 165,000 jobs would be added and that the unemployment rate would remain at about 3.6%, according to The Wall Street Journal.

224,000 jobs were added in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, about double the number economists predicted.  The number of adults working or looking for work remained steady at 6 million, according to the Labor Department. The Labor Department reports that employment growth has averaged 172,000 per month thus far this year, compared to 223,000 a month in 2018.

The June jobs report comes on the heels of May’s job report that revealed unemployment steadily showing the lowest numbers in 50 years. The U.S. economy added 75,000 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent. Economists had predicted 180,000 jobs would be added and that wage growth would rise to about 3.2%.

Job growth has come back strong after February, when just 33,000 jobs were added.

The unemployment rate has held steady between 4 percent and 3.7 percent for more than a year before the April jobs report showed it drop to 3.6 percent. Prior to April’s report, the consistent unemployment rate suggested that workers are jumping back into the workforce to fill open jobs, rather than the workers who are currently collecting unemployment welfare, according to WSJ.

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