Briefing.com: Nonfarm Payrolls

Updated: 04-Aug-17 09:39 ET

July Nonfarm Payrolls

Updated: 04-Aug-17 09:39 ET

Highlights

There weren't any major surprises in the July employment report, which continued to show a trend of strong job growth and lackluster wage growth.

Key Factors

July nonfarm payrolls increased by 209,000 (Briefing.com consensus 181,000). Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 195,000 per month. June nonfarm payrolls revised to 231,000 from 222,000.May nonfarm payrolls revised to 145,000 from 152,000.
July private sector payrolls increased by 205,000 (Briefing.com consensus 175,000). June private sector payrolls revised to 194,000 from 187,000. May private sector payrolls revised to 153,000 from 159,000.
July unemployment rate was 4.3% (Briefing.com consensus 4.3%) versus 4.4% in June. Persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more accounted for 25.9% of the unemployed versus 24.3% in June. The U6 unemployment rate, which accounts for both unemployed and underemployed workers, held steady at 8.6%.
July average hourly earnings increased 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) after increasing an unrevised 0.2% in June. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen 2.5%, unchanged from the 12-month period ending in June.
The average workweek in July was 34.5 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.5), versus 34.5 hours in June. July manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.9 hours. Factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours.
The labor force participation rate increased to 62.9% in July from 62.8% in June

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that it fit that sweet spot yet again for the stock market where job growth was strong but wage growth was not. The assumption, therefore, is that the Fed will continue to wait on its next rate hike.