The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly jobs report this morning. The household survey indicated that the unemployment rate, while remaining low, ticked up to 3.7 percent. At the same time, the economy added another 224,000 jobs in June. This growth exceeds expectations (+165,000) by a significant margin and is in line with the rate of growth we’ve seen so far in 2019. This news may quell fears of an economic slowdown that were stirred up by the disappointing news last month of the economy adding only 75,000 jobs in May.
Initial trading on the stock market indicated a negative reaction to this news, reflecting a perception that it reduced the likelihood of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in July.
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Beth Akers is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former Council of Economic Advisors economist. Follow her on Twitter here.