From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in retail trade, food services and drinking places, financial activities, and wholesale trade.
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons, at 11.5 million, and the unemployment rate, at 7.4 percent, edged down in July. Over the year, these measures were down by 1.2 million and 0.8 percentage point, respectively.
All this data is seasonally adjusted.
The decline in the unemployment rate was slightly better than expected while the payroll employment gain was slightly less.
But this is another month with solid numbers — job growth hasn’t been extraordinary, but it has been steadily outpacing population growth.
U-6 Unemployment (“total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force”) fell to a seasonally adjusted 14 percent, down almost a point from a year ago.
