US creates 9.5m jobs in July as unemployment rate drops to 5.4%

The United States created 9.5 million jobs in July, the country’s Department of Labour said on Friday.

In a report released to the media, the Department said the development has brought the US unemployment rate down to 5.4 percent.

It added that the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.5 percent in Q2

The report read: “The unemployment rate fell by half a percentage point to 5.4 percent, while the number of Americans either in work or actively looking for a job ticked up ever so slightly from 61.6 percent in June to 61.7 percent.

“Going by the metrics known as the labour force participation rate, a narrow range of 61.4 percent to 61.7 percent has been on the rise since February 2020.

“The number of unemployed workers in the US fell by 782,000 last month to 8.7 million. Meanwhile, there were 9.2 million jobs going begging in the US in May, the latest month for which data is available.”

By the time data was collected for July, roughly half of US states had ended the federal weekly top-up.

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The labour supply crunch has compelled many businesses to make job offers more attractive with signing bonuses or wage increases.

That was reflected in average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls which increased by 11 cents to $30.54 in July- the fourth consecutive month of strong gains.

Average hourly wages also climbed for workers in lower-skilled, lower-paying jobs – increasing by 11 cents to $25.83 last month.

That gain represented roughly a 0.4 percent gain over the same period a year ago.

“The data for recent months suggest that the rising demand for labour associated with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic may have put upward pressure on wages,” the report added.

Isaac Dashen

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