The US economy generated 287,000 new jobs in June. That was far higher than the expectation for an increase of 180,000, suggesting that a surprisingly weak report for May was something of a blip.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.9%, amid a strong rise in the number of people in the labor force.
While the monthly jobs report has wide margins of error and is prone to revision, it provides one of the most timely updates on the state of the world’s largest economy. Over the past few years job growth has been quite strong, despite concerns about slowing global growth and a sharp decline in oil and gas drilling activity tied to the collapse of crude prices. The strength of the US dollar has also hamstrung US exports, resulting in a drop in manufacturing employment. The recent Brexit vote in the UK has only strengthened the US dollar, putting further pressure on manufacturing.
We’ll be collecting the best analysis and insight from around the web, and adding some of our own, as the online hive mind digests the report. Stick around.