73 thousand Jobs, 4.2% Unemployment Rate

by Calculated Risk on 8/01/2025 08:30:00 AM

From the BLS: Employment Situation

Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in July (+73,000) and has shown little change
since April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. The unemployment rate,
at 4.2 percent, also changed little in July. Employment continued to trend up in health care
and in social assistance. Federal government continued to lose jobs.
…
Revisions for May and June were larger than normal. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment
for May was revised down by 125,000, from +144,000 to +19,000, and the change for June was revised
down by 133,000, from +147,000 to +14,000. With these revisions, employment in May and June
combined is 258,000 lower than previously reported.
emphasis added

The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.

The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In July, the year-over-year change was 1.54 million jobs.  Year-over-year employment growth is slowing.

The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.

The Labor Force Participation Rate decreased to 62.2% in July, from 62.3% in June. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.

The Employment-Population ratio was decreased to 59.6% from 59.7% in June (blue line).

I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.

The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate was increased to 4.2% in July from 4.1% in June.

This was below consensus expectations and May and June payrolls were revised down by 258,000 combined.  

A weak report.

I’ll have more later …