EmailAfter three months of job growth below 100,000, payrolls added 163,000 jobs in July. That handily beat the Briefing.com consensus expectation of 100,000 new jobs in July. June payrolls were revised down from 80,000 to 64,000.
Private payrolls added 172,000 jobs in July, up from a downwardly revised 73,000 (from 84,000) in June and the strongest private payroll gain since 254,000 jobs were added in February. Private payrolls also easily outperformed expectations (105,000), but were in-line with the prediction coming from the ADP report (163,000). In all, the employment report was solid and showed no underlying liabilities. The unexpected strength of the data is an encouraging sign and the employment situation may be in a better position than previously thought. Yet, with initial claims edging higher, it is difficult to get excited that one month of above expectations growth is a sign of impending upward moving stability. The average workweek remained at 34.5 hours for a second consecutive month and average hourly earnings edged up 0.1% in July. Those levels, combined with the increase in payrolls, drove aggregate July wages up 0.2%. That is not enough to ensure an above trend increase in spending in July.
