July 2018 Jobs Report

The economy continued to add jobs at a steady pace last month, and the unemployment rate remained low. Analysts have been looking for signs that wage growth might pick up, but it held steady, too.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday a gain of 170,000 seasonally adjusted new private-sector jobs in July, but there was a loss of 13,000 public sector jobs, bringing the total gain to 157,000. That was far below the 190,000 gain that the consensus of experts expected. The headline unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent. July’s gains marked the 94th consecutive month of overall job growth.