U.S. unemployment rate ticks up to 4.1 pct in June amid cooling labor market

WASHINGTON (Xinhua): U.S. employers added 206,000 jobs in June, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 4.1 percent, signaling that the labor market is starting to slow down, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.

Job gains occurred in government, health care, social assistance, and construction during the month, according to the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 206,000 in June, lower than the average monthly gain of 220,000 over the prior 12 months.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised down by 57,000 to a gain of 108,000, and the change for May was revised down by 54,000 to a gain of 218,000. With these revisions, employment in April and May combined is 111,000 lower than previously reported.

The U.S. labor market has shown unexpected strength despite the Federal Reserve keeping benchmark interest rate at a range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent — the highest level in two decades — in its efforts to combat inflation and bring it back to its target.

In February, the unemployment rate increased to 3.9 percent, the highest level in two years, before slightly dropping to 3.8 percent in March. In April, the unemployment rate again edged up to 3.9 percent before ticking up to 4.0 percent in May.

The latest measure of 4.1 percent is much higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.6 percent.

In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 35 U.S. dollars. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.9 percent.

The monthly employment report was released two days after the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported that U.S. private sector added 150,000 jobs in June, which marks the smallest increase in five months, according to MarketWatch.

In the minutes of the June policy meeting also released on Wednesday, U.S. Federal Reserve officials cited “a marked deterioration in labor market conditions” as one of the downside risks to economic activity.