US unemployment rate 3.5%, Non-farm payrolls added 187k jobs

August 04, 2023 (MLN): The U.S. unemployment rate for the month of July stands at 3.5%, while non-farm payrolls (NFP) added 187,000 jobs for the said month, the latest data issued by the U.S. Bureau of labor statistics on Friday showed.

NFP, which shows the number of jobs created in the U.S. excluding farm workers, added lesser jobs than the market analysts' expectations of 200,000 jobs.

The number of unemployed persons, at 5.8 million, changed little in July. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent since March 2022.

The labor force participation rate was 62.6% for the fifth consecutive month. The employment-population ratio, at 60.4%, remained little changed in July.

In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $33.74.

Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.4%. In July, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 13 cents, or 0.5%, to $28.96.

NFP is a key indicator of the U.S. labor market performance.

Moreover, the NFP was revised for June to 185,000 jobs.

Similarly, May data was revised to 281,000 jobs.

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