US Labor Market Weakened, 23,000 Jobs Lost in July

JAKARTA - The US labor market weakened in July. The country's economy lost 23,000 jobs, while the market expected an increase of 85,000.

Anadolu Agency, quoted Saturday, August 8, reported that according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics or BLS released Friday, the number of non-farm jobs fell by 23,000 in July.

Non-agricultural employment is the number of jobs outside the agricultural sector.

Even though the number of jobs has decreased, the unemployment rate has actually dropped to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent in June. The number of unemployed people was recorded at 6.9 million.

The labor force participation rate was relatively unchanged at 61.4 percent. However, the figure has dropped 0.7 percentage points since January.

The largest job loss occurred in the local government education sector, which lost 50,000 jobs.

The retail trade sector lost 19,000 jobs, while the financial sector lost 14,000.

The health sector moved in the opposite direction by adding 22,000 jobs. However, this figure is still below the average monthly increase of 36,000 jobs over the previous year.

In terms of wages, the average hourly earnings rose 2 cents to $37.62. Compared to the same period last year, wages increased 3.2 percent.

The average weekly working hours remained at 34.3 hours.

The weakening of the labor market was also seen from the sharp revision of the data for the previous two months.

BLS cut the number of job additions in May to 63,000 from the previous report of 129,000. June data was also revised down to 20,000 from the previous 57,000.

With the revision, the US economy added 103,000 fewer jobs in May and June than previously reported.

The labor data comes after the Federal Reserve kept a benchmark rate at 3.5-3.75 percent in July.

Weak employment reports could strengthen the case for the Fed to consider lower rates. The U.S. central bank considers labor market conditions along with inflation in determining its monetary policy.