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Economy Gains 528,000 Jobs in July; Unemployment Down to 3.5%

Bureau of Labor Statistics

The U.S. economy gained 528,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5%, according to figures released Friday morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continuing strong job creation numbers are a clear sign that the worker-friendly policies implemented by President Biden are having a positive impact on working people. We are now back to the prepandemic unemployment rate and level of job numbers in a record time for a recovery.

In response to the July job numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last month’s biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality (+96,000), professional and business services (+89,000), health care (+70,000), government (+57,000), construction (+32,000), manufacturing (+30,000), social assistance (+27,000), retail trade (+22,000), transportation and warehousing (+21,000), information (+13,000), financial activities (+13,000) and mining (+7,000). Employment showed little change over the month in wholesale trade and other services.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult women (3.1%) and White Americans (3.1%) declined. The jobless rates for teenagers (11.5%), Black Americans (6%), Hispanics (3.9%), adult men (3.2%) and Asian Americans (2.6%) showed little or no change over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed workers (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased in July and accounted for 18.9% of the total unemployed.

While year-over-year wage gains were higher than last month’s, the trend in wage growth is stabilizing, although far below the rate of inflation.