The employment situation for the month of July has seen little changes from the previous month. The unemployment rate remains at 3.7 percent in July, indicating that the rate remains unchanged.
The job growth, however, has not increased in comparison to the previous month. The important news to emerge from the ‘Employment Situation Report- July 2019’ is that the job growth numbers given for May and June have been revised. The total payroll gain is reported to be 41,000 less than that was previously reported for May and June combined.
The payroll increase for May is revised to 62,000 from the earlier reported figure of 72,000. The increase for the month of June is revised to 193,000 from the previously reported 224,000.
The nonfarm payroll jobs increase reported for the month of July is 164,000. The figure is lower than the newly revised figure of the previous month.
Establishment Survey Data
The job gain in July is in line with the average employment growth in the first six months of 2019. Some of the notable contributors in creating jobs for July are professional and technical services, health care, social assistance, and financial activities.
Professional and technical services added nearly 31,000 jobs for the month of July. This also takes the yearly average of the sector to 300,000, which accounts for one-third of all jobs created in the last year.
The jobs created by the healthcare sector for July is 30,000 for the month of July. The total jobs added by the health care sector over the year is about 405,000, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of all jobs created.
The jobs added by social assistance and financial activities sectors are 20,000 and 18,000 respectively in the month of July.
The average workweek for all workers has come down by 0.1 hours, standing at 34.3 hours in July. This decline has been steeper in the manufacturing sector, which registered a decline of 0.3 hours, standing at 40.4 hours.
The wage rate has seen a rise in July, keeping up with the rate that was recorded in the previous month. The average hourly earnings have increased by 8 cents, standing at $27.98. The rise in the previous month too was 8 cents, thus indicating that the rate of wage growth has not seen much difference in July.
Household Survey Data
The ‘major worker groups’ have not seen big changes in the rate of unemployment as compared to the previous month. The unemployment rate of the major workers’ groups for the month of June are:
| Workers Groups | Unemployment Rates |
| Adult Men | 3.4 percent |
| Adult Women | 3.4 percent |
| Teenagers | 12.8 percent |
| White population | 3.3 percent |
| Black population | 6.0 percent |
| Hispanic population | 4.5 percent |
| Asian population | 2.8 percent |
As per the data presented in July, there has been a marginal increase in the unemployment rate of adult men, women and teenagers. In the case of racial groups, there has been a marginal increase in the rate of unemployment for the Hispanic population. The only considerable difference appears in the rate of unemployment of the Asian population, which has come down to 2.8 percent from 2.1 percent in the previous month.
Final Analysis
Although the number of jobs created in July is lesser than the rate of growth in June and May, the overall growth rate seems stable. There has also been an increase in wages, which although is marginal, is a positive sign.