After a couple of underwhelming months for U.S. job growth in the spring, it looks like the summer is faring better.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning that the U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July, which is down a bit from June, but which is nevertheless further evidence of a healthy job market. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, inched a little lower to 4.3%.
As for the revisions, the totals for May were revised down, while June were revised up, and combined they show a net gain of about 2,000 jobs.
All told, if current averages keep up, we're on track to see the U.S. economy add about 2.2 million jobs this calendar year, which would be roughly in line with what we saw last year.
Above you’ll find the chart I run every month, showing monthly job losses since the start of the Great Recession. The image makes a distinction: red columns point to monthly job totals under the Bush and Trump administrations, while blue columns point to job totals under the Obama administration.
Update: Here’s another chart, this one showing monthly job losses/gains in just the private sector since the start of the Great Recession.
