The U.S. added 209,000 jobs in June, less than economists expected, as the unemployment rate was largely unchanged at 3.6%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday.
Economists had anticipated the country would add 225,000 jobs compared to 339,000 in May, and that unemployment would fall from 3.7% to 3.6%, according to Reuters. The number of jobs added has recently outperformed expectations, with the estimate for May being only 190,000 jobs, indicating the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes intended to cool the economy may be working.
The job increases were revised down for May and April, with the country adding 110,000 fewer jobs than what was previously reported, according to the BLS. Growth in June was led by the government, which saw 60,000 new jobs, averaging 63,000 new jobs per month compared to 23,000 last year.
The BLS release is in contrast to Private payroll firm ADP, which released a surprisingly strong report, showing that there were 497,000 new private employee jobs added in June, with the leisure and hospitality sector gaining the most at 232,000 new jobs. Manufacturing performed the worst, losing 42,000.
At the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on June 14, Fed Chair Jerome Powell ended the ten-rate hike streak, leaving interest rates within the range of 5% and 5.25% but signaling more rate hikes are to come this year as the economy remains hot. (RELATED: Fed Chair Claims Massive Government Spending Bills Aren’t Driving Inflation)
U.S. President Joe Biden unveils his economic plan during an event in the lobby of the old post office building on June 28, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“The labor market has acted abnormally in this business cycle because we’re not in a normal business cycle,” E.J. Antoni, research fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The artificial recession in 2020 and the unprecedented government interventions that followed have created tremendous lags in the labor market that are still being felt. Eventually, though, things will catch up, but we can expect GDP and other measures to turn negative before employment. The labor market is a lagging indicator to begin with, and that’s exacerbated today. I still estimate that we will enter a recession before year’s end.”
The economy shows signs of a possible downturn in the future as the manufacturing sector contracted in June for the eighth consecutive month, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).
“Demand remains weak, production is slowing due to lack of work, and suppliers have capacity. There are signs of more employment reduction actions in the near term,” the ISM report says.
President Biden has gone on tour to advertise his economic policy, which has been dubbed “Bidenomics.” On June 28, Biden gave a speech in Chicago making his pitch for his economic policy and attacking conservative economic ideas.
“The trickle down approach failed the middle class,” Biden said, according to CBS News. “It failed America. It blew up the deficit. It increased inequity. And it weakened our infrastructure. It stripped the dignity, pride and hope out of communities, one after another.”
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