The American jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) for the month of July showed 255,000 jobs being added.
This is the second consecutive month that the U.S. economy has had a significant surge in the number of jobs added, as a revised 292,000 were added in June.
The BLS’ report exceeded the expectations of analysts in terms of jobs added— they had predicted that there would be an additional 180,000 positions— yet the unemployment rate stayed the same, instead of decreasing.
The unemployment rate not decreasing below 4.9 percent can likely be attributed to more individuals entering the workforce.
Hours worked by the average employee also increased, which hints that employers are hiring on a more full-time basis.
The strong report will also likely encourage the Federal Reserve to further increase interest rates, something they hadn’t done for nearly a decade until this past December.
Other factors, however, such as uncertain economies worldwide and the coming U.S. presidential election, could delay the rate hike until this December.
The industries that showed strong hiring in July included the professional and business services industry, healthcare, and the financial services industry.
Mining was one of the few industries that showed notable job losses.
Despite strong job growth, many have questioned the slow rate of growth in GDP, which is a hot button issue on the campaign trail.
