U.S. Job Growth Tops Expectations
The nation's economy added 195,000 jobs in June, solidly topping expectations, although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent, the Labor Department said today.
The gain in jobs exceeded the average monthly gain of 182,000 over the past 12 months. In nine of those months, the economy has gained at least 153,000 jobs.
The stock market reacted positively. At the opening bell this morning, the major indices were up, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average flirting with the 15,000 level.
The Labor Department said employment rose in the following sectors: leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail, health care and financial services.
Analysts polled by Yahoo predicted a gain of 175,000 new jobs. They also predicted that the jobless rate would not change.
The jobless rate has changed little since February, with about 11.8 million Americans reported as unemployed in June. However, the number of those classified as "long term" unemployed, those being out of work for at least 27 weeks, fell to its lowest level — 36.7 million — since October 2009.
The White House welcomed the news, but said the nation needs to create even more jobs.
"Today's employment report provides further confirmation that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression," Alan Krueger chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement on the White House website. "It is critical that we remain focused on pursuing policies to speed job creation and expand the middle class, as we continue to dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007."
(Image credit: freedigitalphotos.net)
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