The Patriot Post® · Fireworks in June's Jobs Report

After a harrowing week, we could use some welcome news. Thankfully, Friday dawned with an encouraging development on the economic front. But first, recall that May’s jobs report was abysmal. The government originally reported the economy posted a measly 38,000 jobs, representing an exceedingly low quota. However, newly modified figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are even worse. Just 11,000 jobs were created in May. Fortunately, that was somewhat negated by the fact April came in at 144,000, or 21,000 more than originally reported. Better, but both months were lacking nevertheless.

June was far more respectable. This morning BLS reported the addition of 287,000 jobs last month. That both dwarfed April and May and defied expectations. Just 170,000-175,000 jobs were anticipated. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 4.9%, a few tenths higher than May’s 4.7%. That’s not necessarily bad, however, because labor participation also increased. As American Enterprise Institute’s James Pethokoukis tweeted, “If labor force participation rate had held steady, jobless rate would have been 4.7%. So higher 4.9% rate for good reason: larger workforce.”

The question remains: What the heck happened in May? Moreover, as CNBC notes, “Over the last three months, job gains have averaged about 147,000 per month.” We should note too that, as with every jobs report, the true unemployment figure is higher than 4.9% when everything is taken into account. All that being said, June’s jobs report was positive, and it’s good to see at least something going in the right direction this week. Let’s hope it lasts.