US sees strong job creation in July as unemployment falls

The US economy continued robust job creation in July, with the unemployment rate falling back to a 16-year low amid strong hiring in restaurants and health care, government data showed.

The healthy jobs report was another dose welcome news for an embattled White House facing a stalled policy agenda and historically low public approval ratings.

Despite a government rule barring officials from commenting on economic data untile one hour after release, President Donald Trump immediately hailed the report on Twitter:

"Excellent Jobs Numbers just released - and I have only just begun. Many job stifling regulations continue to fall. Movement back to USA!"
 

The world's largest economy added 209,000 net new positions for the month, well above analyst forecasts but below June's 231,000, the Labor Department reported.

The gain meant the unemployment rate ticked back down a tenth a point to 4.3 percent, the same as in May, when it reached its lowest level in 16 years.

Hourly wages also continued to make steady if slow progress, 2.5 percent higher than July 2016, the same gain recorded the month before.

However, average monthly job creation so far in 2017 is 185,000, slightly below the average recorded in 2016 and well below 2015 and 2014.

In research published today to coincide with the jobs numbers, the Brookings Institution said July's job gains meant the United States had finally recovered from the damage done to labor markets by the Great Recession.

In raw numbers, the US has added 16 million net jobs over the last seven years, about twice the number of jobs lost during the recession, according Labor Department figures.

But this does not account for demographic shifts such as population growth and the growing ranks of retirees, according to Brookings.

According the report, "by our calculations, nearly a full decade after the start of the recession, employment has returned to its demographically adjusted pre-recession level.

"This does not mean that all harm to the labor market resulting from the Great Recession has dissipated, nor that the economy is at full employment."

The rosy jobs report, with a tightening jobs market and rising wages, could also ease some of the confusion among Federal Reserve policymakers, who were expected to raise interest rates a third time this year but have been left perplexed by flagging inflation.