Employment data suggests that the U.S. labor market is cooling off.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 187,000 in July from the previous month, according to an employment report released by the U.S. Labor Department today (April 4).
That was below the 200,000 expert forecast compiled by financial information firm FactSet.
In releasing the July statistics, the Labor Department revised June’s employment gain to 185k from 209k and May’s gain to 28k from 306k.
By industry, employment gains were led by health care (63k), social assistance (24k), financial activities (19k), and wholesale trade (18k).
In contrast, leisure and hospitality added only 17k jobs, well below the average monthly employment gain in the first quarter (67k).
“There are signs of slowing demand for travel-related services,” said Morgan Stanley Chief Economist Ellen Zentner.
The accompanying July unemployment rate was 3.5%, down slightly from 3.6% in June.
The consensus forecast of experts compiled by FactSet was for 3.6%, the same as in June.
Meanwhile, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report (JOLTS), released earlier in the day by the Department of Labor, also showed results that support a continued slowdown in excess demand in the labor market.
According to the JOLTS, there were 9.58 million job openings at private firms in June, 카지노사이트넷 the lowest level of job openings since April 2021 (9.29 million).
The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is keeping a close eye on employment-related indicators as it believes that an overheated labor market could lead to stubbornly high inflation.