U.S. Adds 372,000 Jobs in June, Unemployment Rate Stays at 3.6%
The U.S. economy added 372,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate remained unchanged from May and April at 3.6%, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
This number represents little change from May, which saw an increase of a newly revised figure of 384,000 jobs, recently adjusted by 6,000 from the originally reported 390,000.
Notable job gains continued in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, health care, transportation and warehousing, manufacturing and information. Employment in retail trade showed little change from the prior month.
The unemployment rate remained at 3.6% for the fourth month in row, with about 5.9 million people unemployed in June.
Average hourly earnings rose by 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $32.08 in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 5.1%. Meanwhile, inflation continues to soar at record high levels.
In May, inflation hit a more than 40-year high, with consumer prices up 8.6% compared to the year ago period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly report. This number was up from 8.3% growth in April and from the 8.5% growth in March. The inflation report for June is scheduled to be released next week.
While the economy’s growth appears to be slowing, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said that a recession is unlikely to occur for the remainder of 2022.
“The economy is moving away from extremely strong growth toward moderate growth, but increased income from employment gains, rising wages and more hours worked is expected to support household spending,” said NRF’s chief economist Jack Kleinhenz in a statement last week.
Meanwhile, consumers have recently expressed more concern about mounting inflation pressures, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data. In May, median inflation expectations for the year ahead increased from 6.3% to 6.6% in May, up 0.3% from April, the New York Fed said. This marked the highest recorded rate of survey since June 2013, tied with March.