IniEmployers 4475-2added 187,000 jobs in July, similar to June, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% from 3.6% the previous month, according to the Labor Department.
Despite a steep spike in borrowing costs, the report was the latest indicator of economic resiliency in the United States.
Hiring has slowed since last year and was weaker than predicted in July, although it has fared better than many expected.
Economists have been predicting a downturn in the world’s largest economy since last year, when the Federal Reserve began aggressively raising borrowing costs in response to prices growing at the highest rate in four decades.
Inflation, or the rate at which prices grow, has fallen dramatically since the Fed began hiking interest rates, reaching 3% in June.
However, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has stated that policymakers want to see additional signals of economic cooling in order to be convinced that their efforts are succeeding.
Analysts said the latest statistics were unlikely to resolve the issue, pointing to an unemployment rate that remained around historic lows and salary rises that were greater than expected despite a slowdown in hiring.
According to the Labor Department, the average hourly wage in July was 4.4% higher than a year ago.
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“Last month’s results showed that employment growth had begun to slow, and today’s figures suggest that a downward trend may be in the works,” said Richard Flynn, managing director at Charles Schwab UK.
“While this should be encouraging for policymakers as they continue to battle sticky inflation, the Fed would most likely prefer to see wage gains closer to 3%.”
The 187,000 new jobs added in July were less than the 200,000 forecasters predicted.
Manufacturing, transportation, IT, and media companies have all laid off employees. The majority of other industries grew, with health care companies leading the way.
The Labor Department also stated that hiring in June and May was lower than previously projected.
Analysts, however, believe that job growth has remained strong enough to absorb expansion in the working-age population.
This has boosted optimism that the economy will slow gradually rather than abruptly, displacing millions of people.
According to Julia Pollak, economist at the employment site Zip Recruiter, Friday’s data was “goldilocks,” while Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said it “couldn’t have been much better.”
