The US economy added 209,000 jobs in June, missing Wall Street estimates and reflecting a slowdown from the previous month, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected that 225,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in June. Friday’s report marks the first time in 15 months that nonfarm payrolls have come in lower than Wall Street expected. Updated data revealed 306,000 jobs were created during May, about 33,000 less than previously reported.
The June unemployment rate was 3.6%, down from 3.7% in May. Economists had expected 3.6%.
Here are the key numbers compared to what Wall Street had been expecting, according to data from Bloomberg:
- Nonfarm payrolls: +209,000 vs. +225,000
- Unemployment rate: 3.6% vs. 3.6%
- Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.4% vs. +0.3%
- Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +4.4% vs. +4.2%
- Average weekly hours worked: +34.4 vs. +34.3
“Today’s employment report offered additional evidence that the labor market is slowly coming into better balance as job growth slows and labor supply steadily expands,” Wells Fargo senior economists Sarah House and Michael Pugliese wrote in a note on Friday. “That said, job growth of +200K is still quite strong even if it is directionally slower than the scorching pace seen over the past year.”
Investors had been closely watching the jobs data for signs of what the Fed will do next in its campaign to raise interest rates to curb inflation. The market is widely expecting an interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s next meeting, which begins on July 25. Following a strong morning of economic releases Thursday and Friday’s jobs report, futures tied to the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate project a 95% chance that the Fed raises rates at the July meeting, per the CME FedWatch Tool.
Elsewhere in the report, April’s job gains were also revised lower — to 217,000 from 294,000 — making job growth over that two-month stretch lower than previously reported by 110,000.
By industry, the largest increases in Friday’s data were seen in government, which added 60,000 jobs.
In healthcare, 41,000 jobs were added last month, while 23,000 construction jobs were added. Professional and business services added 21,000 jobs. Employment in leisure hospitality ticked up by 21,000 but remains below pre-pandemic levels. Retail trade employment, which includes furniture, home furnishings, electronics, and appliance retailers, declined by 11,000 in June.
