US Adds 255K Jobs in July, Surpassing Expectations

The jobless rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent.

ByABC News
August 5, 2016, 9:22 AM

— -- U.S. employers added 255,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

Economists were expecting a gain of about 180,000 jobs last month. It's the second month in a row that the jobs numbers surpassed expectations.

Average hourly earnings ticked up 2.6 percent to $25.69.

In June, 292,000 jobs were added compared to the anemic 24,000 jobs created in May. (Both June and May had been revised higher from earlier estimates).

"Overall, this was impressive," Ryan Sweet, director of Real Time Economics at Moody's Analytics, told ABC News. "Job growth was broad-based in July. We’re not leaning on one or two industries for support."

"The trend is very encouraging, it suggests that our economy is doing well," he added.

Two months of strong jobs numbers could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in September, he said.

S&P economist Satyam Panday said the July jobs report will give the economy "an extra boost after a mixed-bag of corporate earnings these past several days."

"A steady pace of hiring, healthier consumer appetites and a bounce in producer sentiment paint a brighter U.S. economic outlook amidst ongoing global woes," he explained.

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