(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) The U.S. economy added 73,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate has remained steady at 4.2% over the past few months.
“I’ve been calling this a ‘Frozen’ job market for awhile. Now I would call it a red flag. The economy is barely adding any jobs,” said Heather Long, chief economist for the Navy Federal Credit Union. “Companies do not want to hire or invest with this much uncertainty about tariffs, inflation, etc.”
The unemployment rate slightly ticked up from 4.1% in June – returning to May’s rate of 4.2%, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report.
The report noted revisions for May and June numbers “were larger than normal.”
June revisions show the economy added only 14,000 jobs, down from the previously reported 147,000. May numbers show the economy added only 19,000 jobs, down from the originally reported 144,000.
“The big preliminary annual revision coming out on Sept. 9 may even show job losses,” Long wrote in a post on X.
Despite the weak numbers, the report showed that average hourly earnings rose by 12 cents to $36.44, a year-over-year increase of 3.9%.
The report noted that most job gains remain in the health care and social assistance industries, adding that federal jobs continue to be lost.
The report comes as the White House released a slew of new tariff rates for dozens of countries late Thursday evening.
This is a developing story.
