The U.S. economy added slightly fewer jobs than expected in July, while the unemployment rate held a hair above a 50-year low.
Figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s show the economy stateside added 164,000 jobs last month, keeping the unemployment rate at 3.7%.
Meantime, average hourly earnings month-on-month gained 0.3%; year-on-year, the improvement was 3.2%
Friday’s report included several downward revisions to previous data, shaving an aggregate 41,000 new employment additions off May and June’s reports. June’s change in non-farm payrolls was downwardly revised to see just 193,000 additions, from the 224,000 seen previously. And May’s previous reading of just 72,000 additions was cut further to 62,000.
Job gains averaged 140,000 per month over the past three months, following revisions.
