Economy adds whopping 528K jobs for July, shatters expectations

The U.S. added 528,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 in July, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.

 

Economists expected the U.S. to have added roughly 250,000 jobs in July and keep the jobless rate at 3.6 percent, according to consensus estimates released before the report.

 

High inflation, Federal Reserve interest rates hikes, and a global economic slowdown were all likely to bring job growth down toward pre-pandemic levels.

 

But the U.S added more than twice as many jobs in July, defying predictions of a labor market slowdown and showing the resilience of a historically strong labor market.