Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 943,000 jobs in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate declined by a half percentage point to 5.4%.
Standard revisions added an additional 119,000 jobs to the prior two months' jobs reports, lifting average growth for the U.S. labor market to 832,000 jobs over the past three months.
Employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 380,000 jobs in July, with 253,000 of those job gains coming in food services and drinking places. The leisure and hospitality sector is still down 1.7 million jobs from February 2020.
Other sectors seeing growth include local government education, which added 221,000 jobs in July, and transportation and warehousing, which added 50,000 jobs. Healthcare added 37,000 jobs and manufacturing employment increased by 27,000 jobs.
Gains in miscellaneous store retailers and nonstore retailers were offset by losses in building materials and garden supply stores, leading to a loss of 6,000 jobs in the retail trade in July.
The construction industry saw little change in employment from June.
Here's how economists and others reacted to the July jobs report on Twitter.
BOOM! Payrolls growth of +943k in July, and unemployment down from 5.9% to 5.4%, and that's what a robust jobs report looks like.
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) August 6, 2021
Great numbers. Healthy beat on payrolls. Employment to population ratio up 0.4%. America's getting back to work.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) August 6, 2021
More people went back to the office in July.
— Jed Kolko (@JedKolko) August 6, 2021
Now 25% of managers & professionals are WFH due to pandemic, vs. 57% last May.
Overall: 13% now WFH due to pandemic. pic.twitter.com/isQ3nUPLRb
Between a strong July number and positive revisions, look at it this way: 10 minutes ago, the best estimate was that the previous three months' payrolls added 567k jobs a month. Now, that number is 832k.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) August 6, 2021
I have yet to find a blemish in this jobs report. I've never before seen such a wonderful set of economic data:
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) August 6, 2021
--Job gains in most sectors
--Big decline in unemployment rate, even bigger for Black & Hispanic/Latino
--Redn in long-term unemp
--Solid (nominal) wage gains
Update: we're "in 2016" now. https://t.co/yGc01V0Ckk
— Alan Cole (@AlanMCole) August 6, 2021
Who is benefiting from these strong wage gains? The people hit hardest by the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/AbhE65vJ5U
— Dr. Julia Coronado (@jc_econ) August 6, 2021
It’s Jobs Day!
— C. Nicole Mason, PhD (@cnicolemason) August 6, 2021
We’re moving in the right direction: 946K jobs added adding to 3 mil. over last few months.
Unemployment levels for Black (7.6%) and Latino women (6.7) drop, but still high compared to all women (5.2)@IWPResearch
One thing to remember: Despite these gains, employment in leisure and hospitality is down by 1.7 million, or
— Cameron Sperance (@CameronSperance) August 6, 2021
10.3 percent, from its level in Feb. 2020, per @BLS_gov
#jobsday motion pictures added 17.8k jobs, still hardest hit sector, down 133.4 or 30.2 percent
— Dean Baker (@DeanBaker13) August 6, 2021
Today's jobs report looks remarkably like last month's report (943K jobs added this month, 938K last month post revisions)
— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) August 6, 2021
It's clear the summer was off with a bang, but how much will the current surge in cases hold back growth in August and September?
There is a lot of uncertainty about the next few months. Expanded UI will continue to expire in more states, and across the country in September. But this is running up against the delta variant.
— Adam Ozimek (@ModeledBehavior) August 6, 2021
It's work in progress, not mission complete. pic.twitter.com/WptAJ3mdS7
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) August 6, 2021
So if we want the recovery to continue, get yourself vaccinated. And if you are vaccinated, try through love, gentleness, listening, and understanding to get one vaccine reluctant person vaccinated. https://t.co/z8qeoLJ4HG
— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) August 6, 2021
