US Jobs Hit 943,000 In July As Unemployment Declines To New Low Despite Delta Surge

While COVID cases are on the rise, all signs are pointing to an economic recovery as U.S. employers added 943,000 jobs in July, according to the Labor Department’s latest report released on Friday.

The report indicated that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 5.4% in July, down 0.5% from a month earlier – the lowest level of unemployment since March 2020, according to Bloomberg.

The 943,000 payrolls for July were the most jobs added since August 2020, Yahoo Finance reported. This is well above estimates of 845,000 jobs, following June’s increase of 850,000 positions.

The Labor Department said that the number of unemployed persons fell by 782,000 to 8.7 million during the month of July.

Significant job gains were reached in leisure and hospitality as well as in local government, education and the professional and business services industries.

Leisure and hospitality added 380,000 jobs, while the private sector, education and health services employment added nearly 90,000 positions. Government payrolls were up by 240,000 for the month.

“Staffing fluctuations in education due to the pandemic have distorted the normal seasonal buildup and layoff patterns, likely contributing to the job gains in July,” the Labor Department said in its report.

“Without the typical seasonal employment increases earlier, there were fewer layoffs at the end of the school year, resulting in job gains after seasonal adjustment. These variations make it more challenging to discern the current employment trends in these education industries.”

“The labor market recovery continues to exhibit uneven progress, but progress nonetheless. July payroll data reports a marked slowdown from the second quarter pace in jobs growth,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in a statement.