Today, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the July Employment Situation, which showed that total nonfarm employment rose by +187,000 in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, while temporary help services employment fell by -22,100 jobs. The prime age labor force participation rate remained at 83.4%, while the overall labor force participation rate stayed at 62.6%.
The national unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June, and though this figure was below the median forecast in the Reuters and Bloomberg surveys of economists, it is still consistent with the Federal Reserve’s “soft landing” scenario, reducing the inflation rate back to the 2% target without causing a recession.
In terms of industry groups, the largest gain was seen in Health and social assistance, which added +87,100 jobs; followed by Other services, which added +20,000 jobs; and Financial activities, which added +19,000 jobs. Meanwhile, three sectors and the temporary help services industry saw declines – the greatest of which was the temporary help services industry, dropping by -22,100.
The BLS also revised data from previous months, indicating that total non
