US economy added 209000 jobs as hiring slows
The Labor Department said on Friday that hiring slowed in the United States in June, creating fewer new jobs than many expected, a sign that the economy may be cooling.
The slowing pace of hiring will be welcome news for the US Federal Reserve, which recently paused its aggressive campaign to hike rates to give policymakers more time to assess the health of the US economy. Despite the rapid pace of rate hikes, inflation remains consistently above the Fed’s long-term target of 2 percent.
The world’s biggest economy added 209,000 jobs last month, down from a revised May figure of 306,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent, the department said. The employment figure was below the median expectation of 240,000 new jobs in a poll of economists polled by Marketwatch, while the unemployment rate was in line with expectations.
The Labor Department said many of the new jobs created in June came from increases in employment in government, health care, social assistance and construction. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent month-over-month in June, up 4.4 percent year-over-year, despite a slowdown in new jobs.
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