The jobless rate held steady at 4.9 per cent as numerous people streaming into the labour force found jobs.
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USA non-farm payrolls increased by 255,000 jobs last month, after an upwardly revised 292,000 surge in June.
The data in the July employment report were not only uniformly strong in their internal components, but the prior month’s jobs data were revised upward, ruling out the risk of a recession in the near-term.
Traders on Friday boosted bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as soon as December after a government report showed U.S. employers added more jobs than expected last month.
WASHINGTON, Aug 5 US employment likely increased at a healthy clip in July, with wages picking up, which should help to underpin consumer spending and boost the economy.
“This represents more of a return to the form of the first six months of the year, and indicates Fed Chair Janet Yellen is presiding over a strong but not spectacular USA economy”, said Dennis De Jong, managing director at broker-dealer UFX.com in Limassol, Cyprus.
After a policy meeting last month, the Fed described the labor market as having “strengthened” and that the job market measures pointed to some “increase in labor utilization”.
The U.S. central bank raised interest rates at the end of past year for the first time in almost a decade, but has held them steady since amid concerns over persistently low inflation. The annual increase was 2.6 per cent in July, the same as in June. Most economists expect another rate hike in December, though financial markets have nearly priced out that possibility.
Though it was the second straight monthly increase, layoffs were 57 percent lower than in July past year.
A solid gain in payrolls would add to July auto sales in underscoring the economy’s sound fundamentals. Economic growth is expected to accelerate to at least a 2.5 percent annualized rate in the third quarter.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 269,000 for the week ended July 30, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Construction payrolls rose 14,000 following three consecutive months of declines. Once again job growth in mining continued its trend lower, losing 6,000 jobs.
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The labour force participation rate, which indicates the share of working-age people who are employed or looking for work, increased to 62.8 per cent from 62.7 per cent.
