- Today’s much-anticipated U.S. June jobs report showed a strong rebound in hiring. The country added 287,000 jobs in June following downwardly revised numbers for May in which 11,000 jobs were created. May’s sharp slowdown has proven to be a blip.
- June’s job numbers confirm that the U.S. economy is still growing solidly and highlight the importance of examining a broad range of economic data. Job growth averaged 149,000 in May and June and 172,000 per month this year. At this rate, the U.S. economy is poised to create more than 2 million jobs in 2016.
- The national unemployment rate ticked up to 4.9 percent from last month’s 4.7 percent, but that reflects more people entering the labor force, which is a again a good indicator of consumer confidence.
- The U-6 measure, a broader gauge of unemployment that captures discouraged and part-time workers, also showed an encouraging reversal in June and hit a cyclical low of 9.6 percent. This indicator has remained stubbornly high during the recent economic recovery.
- Furthermore, wage growth continues to show strength and increased 2.6 percent on an annual basis. This is the highest reading of wage growth this year, and expectations suggest further acceleration of wage growth to reach 3 percent.
- A separate report on tech employment showed a strong rebound in the IT sector, which added 32,100 jobs in June and a net of 43,900 new jobs in 2016. The rebound does partly reflect the return of Verizon’s workforce from a May strike.
- The IT sector grew at a faster rate than overall employment, with all categories recording positive growth in June. Additionally, the number of IT job postings also increased slightly in June. Software-developer positions topped the list of IT job openings, at 60,500.
- The rebound in national employment numbers suggests that we will most likely see strong June numbers for California and the Bay Area, and that May’s statewide net gain of 15,200 will be revised up. The California Employment Development Department will release June employment numbers later this month.