07/07/2017

U.S. Employers Add 222,000 Jobs in June

Unemployment ticks up slightly to 4.4 percent

U.S. employers added a robust 222,000 jobs in June, the most in four months, a reassuring sign that businesses may be confident enough to keep hiring despite a slow-growing economy. The U.S. Labor Department says the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent in May, which was a 16-year low. The rate rose because more Americans began looking for work and not all of them found jobs.

The government also revised up its estimate of job growth for April and May were revised up by a combined 47,000. In the first six months of this year, hiring has averaged nearly 180,000 jobs a month, only slightly below last year's pace.

Yet, even with the strong hiring, average hourly pay rose in June by just 2.5 percent from a year earlier. That's below the 3.5 percent pace typical of a healthy economy.

Please click here to read the complete article on Inc.