US Non-Farm Payroll Employment, July 2019

The US economy added 164,000 non-farm payroll jobs in July, lower than June level but consistent with market expectations. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics revised June's jobs figure from 224,000 down to 193,000. Through the first seven months of 2019, the US economy gained an average of 165,000 non-farm payroll jobs per month, a marked drop from last year’s average of 223,000 per month.

• By sector, professional and technical services (31,000 new jobs), health care (30,000), social assistance (20,000), and financial activities (18,000) made the most substantial jobs gains. Manufacturing, a causality of the ongoing US-China trade war, added 16,000 jobs.
• In July, the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.7 percent. Markets anticipated the rate would decline slightly, but the labor force participation rate bumped up to 63 percent with 370,000 new workers joining the US labor force.
• Meanwhile, the growth in average hourly earnings (0.3%) pushed wage growth y-o-y to 3.2 percent in July, the highest level since April.