Investing.com — The recovery in the U.S. labor market appeared to strengthen in June, with 850,000 people finding a job, according to Labor Department figures released Friday.
The headline nonfarm payrolls number was well above a consensus forecast of 700,000. In addition, May’s nonfarm payrolls gain was revised up by 24,000 to 583,000.
However, other elements of the report weren’t as unambiguously positive. The unemployment rate rose to 5.9% of the workforce, instead of falling to 5.7% as expected. That suggests that people who lost their jobs during the pandemic still aren’t rejoining the labor force as quickly as could be hoped for.
The participation rate, which measures employment relative to the total working age population, also remained stuck at May’s level of 61.6%.
Source: Investing.com