The jobs report leaves Fed officials with little additional guidance as they continue to debate the direction of interest rates
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
The U.S. economy added just 57,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday, falling well short of analysts' expectations. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected 115,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.2%.
Downward revisions to prior months darkened the picture further. April's count was cut by 31,000 to 148,000, while May's was trimmed by 43,000 to 129,000, leaving the two-month combined total 74,000 short of what had originally been reported.
Leisure and hospitality was the biggest drag on June payrolls, shedding 61,000 jobs due to weaker seasonal hiring. Professional and business services led gains, adding 36,000 jobs, followed by social assistance at 25,000 and health care at 22,000.
Analysts had anticipated the jobless rate would remain at 4.3% for a fourth straight month, so the dip to 4.2% was a mild surprise — though it was driven in part by workers stepping back from the labor market. Participation slipped 0.3 percentage point to 61.5%, and the employment-population ratio edged down 0.2 percentage point to 59.0%. The number of unemployed people held at 7.1 million.
Average hourly earnings for private nonfarm payroll employees rose 13 cents, or 0.3%, to $37.64 in June. Over the past year, wages are up 3.5%.
The June figure is roughly in line with the average monthly job gain over the prior 12 months, which stood at 36,000, the BLS said.
Federal Reserve officials are next scheduled to meet at the end of July. The report leaves Fed officials with little additional guidance as they continue to debate the direction of interest rates.
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