GoKawiilThe U.S. economy shed 23,000 jobs in July, a sign that the labor market had not stabilized after four months of positive growth.
The unemployment rate ticked down only slightly to 4.1%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting the release to show 83,000 added roles, more than June’s 57,000.
In yet another troubling sign for the labor market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that it revised down the prior two months by a combined 103,000. May’s jobs total was cut by 66,000 to 129,000 total jobs added, while June’s total was lowered by 37,000 to a total gain of 57,000.
The hiring data comes against a complicated economic backdrop. The U.S. war with Iran continues without any kind of agreement to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, energy prices remain elevated, even if they are off their highest levels of the year.
The change in workers’ average hourly earnings also fell well short of economists’ expectations. Wage growth was 0.1% from June, or 3.2% from one year ago. That’s also below inflation, which was 3.5% in its most recent reading.
Economists had been expecting wages to continue pacing at 3.5% from a year ago, but instead wage growth slowed.
“The labor market is stalling again,” wrote Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, who called the report “bleak.”
In a post on X, Long also pointed to another troubling data point: The labor force participation rate in July was the lowest since February 2021, a sign that workers are dropping out of the workforce.
The average price of regular gasoline also remains high, at $4.04 per gallon as of Friday morning, up 36% since Feb. 28, when the Iran war began. Inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target at 3.5%. Wages are struggling to keep pace.
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