Investing.com – The US labor market cooled more than expected in July, providing more data for the Fed to cut interest rates in September. According to the latest data published today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in the month just ended, an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to June. The figure exceeded market expectations which expected unemployment to remain steady at 4.1%. The number of unemployed rose by 352,000 to 7.2 million.
A year ago the unemployment rate was 3.5% and there were 5.9 million unemployed.
At the same time, the number of new jobs surprisingly decreased.
Nonfarm payrolls data, which indicates new pay slips outside the agriculture sector, stood at 114,000 units in July, the lowest since October 2021. The result was below the average monthly increase of 215,000 units recorded in the previous 12 months and the 176 thousand units expected by the consensus.
The US Bureau of Statistics also revised its estimates for the previous two months, with data on total non-agricultural employment for May down by 2,000 units, from +218,000 to +216,000, and the change for June was down 27,000 units, from +206,000 to +179,000.
The data shows a clear cooling of the US labor market that will be considered by the Federal Reserve, and its president Jerome Powell, to decide whether, after another postponement decided in July, September is finally the right one time to lower rates. of interest.
Source: Investing.com – US labor market data processing, 02 August 2024
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