July 2018 Jobs Report

Unemployment Rate: 3.9 percent

Jobs Created: 157,000

Employment and Unemployment

1. The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent for July.

2. The report shows an increase of 157,000 nonfarm jobs in July. Sectors with job gains include manufacturing (37,000), construction (19,000), and professional and business services (51,000).

3. DOL revised the net increases in nonfarm jobs upward by a combined 59,000 for May and June. That brings average monthly job gains for 2018 to 215,000.

4. The U.S. has created 1.5 million new jobs since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became law and 4 million new jobs since President Trump was elected in November 2016.

5. The U-6 rate, a measure of unemployed and underemployed workers, fell to 7.5 percent, a 17-year low. By this measure, 12.3 million Americans are unemployed. They include people who are unemployed (6.3 million), want work but have not looked for a job recently (1.5 million), or are working part time because they cannot find full-time employment (4.6 million).  

6. The median length of unemployment was 9.5 weeks in July, down from 10.4 weeks a year ago.

7. The number of long-term unemployed, those unemployed for 27 weeks or more, was 1.4 million, down 322,000 from a year ago. They account for 22.7 percent of the unemployed.

Labor Force Participation

1. The labor force participation rate was 62.9 percent, unchanged from June. It remains below the pre-recession rate of 66 percent.

Wages

1. In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $27.05. It is a 71-cent, or 2.7 percent, gain from a year ago.