That, at least, is the word from most economists.
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The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. A September rate hike would mark the first increase in almost a decade.
Like the Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve has held interest rates at near zero since the financial crisis, to kick-start the economy.
Not all of them do. “Moreover, even with an increase, rates remain at incredibly low levels from a historical perspective”.
The July jobs report released Friday morning show the economy producing jobs at a steady pace. Pay increases, for example, are still sluggish.
The number of unemployed women, those who did not have a job but actively sought one, increased by 63,000 over the month. Suggesting that the new qualifier means the central bank needs to see only modest additional gains, some economists considered it a signal of a likely rate hike in September.
Manufacturing positions climbed by 15,000 and motor vehicle parts and dealers jobs rose by 13,000.
Gold prices slipped after the blockbuster US jobs report was little different from forecast, prompting a jolt in the dollar and an overall drop in precious metals complex on expectations that the Fed will raise rates from next month. More jobs were also added in construction. “The Fed seems to be gliding toward a rate increase quite soon”, Irwin wrote.
“What’s important is that in the long term, the unemployment rate has been trending downwards”, noted Valerie Wilson, an economist who covers race and ethnicity issues at the Economic Policy Institute.
“We think this represents another solid employment report that meets the criteria for “some further improvement” in the labour market and keeps the Fed in play for September”, said Michelle Girard, chief economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut.
While this was a somewhat unspectacular report, it provides evidence of a steadily improving jobs market and allows Janet Yellen et al. the platform to finally start raising rates.
The unemployment rate held at 5.3 percent for a second straight month. A market that has more workers than jobs is especially harmful to African Americans and other marginalized groups, since they often face discrimination that makes it harder to find work, they note. The major U.S. stock market indexes were down more than half a percentage point shortly before noon. That’s also depressing an already unusually low inflation rate. Over the past year, the hourly wage has risen by 2.1 percent.
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The Dow Jones industrial average lost 99 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,318 as of 11:10 a.m. Eastern.
