U.S. employers add solid 206,000 jobs in June

U.S. employers added a solid 206,000 jobs in June, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Friday, a sign of continued economic strength and outpacing expectations despite still-stubborn inflation.

The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to still-low 4.1%, up from 4%. 

Economists been repeatedly predicting that the job market would lose momentum in the face of high interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve, only to see the hiring gains show unexpected strength.

“With today’s report that 206,000 jobs were created last month, a record 15.7 million jobs have been created during my Administration,” President Joe Biden, whose administration has worked to convince Americans his economic policies are working despite inflationary pressures, said in a statement. “We have more work to do, but wages are growing faster than prices and more Americans are joining the workforce, with the highest share of working-age Americans in the workforce in over 20 years. That’s real progress for hardworking families who have the dignity and respect that comes with earning a paycheck and putting food on the table.”

Biden used Friday’s report to cast his economic policies against those of Republicans in Congress as he battles for reelection in November against former President Donald Trump.

“Too many Americans are still feeling squeezed by the cost of the living,” Biden said. “I’m fighting to lower costs by taking on corporate price gouging, capping the cost of insulin and prescription drugs, and calling on Congress to lower rent by building 2 million new homes. Congressional Republicans have a different vision that sides with billionaires and special interests and will supercharge inflation. They’ll impose high consumer tariffs that will cost middle class families thousands of dollars each year, give a giant tax cut to the wealthy, repeal the Affordable Care Act, and allow big corporations to keep ripping off Americans.

“While they fight for Park Avenue, I’ll keep fighting for working families like the ones I grew up with in Scranton,” he added.

Still, there are signs of an economic slowdown in the face of the Fed’s series of interest rate hikes. The U.S. gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — grew at a lethargic annual pace of 1.4% from January through March, the slowest quarterly pace in nearly two years.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of all U.S. economic activity and which has powered the expansion the past three years, rose at just a 1.5% pace last quarter after growing more than 3% in each of the previous two quarters. In addition, the number of advertised job openings has declined steadily since peaking at a record 12.2 million in March 2022.

Still, while employers might not be hiring so aggressively after having struggled to fill jobs the past two years, they aren’t cutting many, either. Most workers are enjoying an unusual level of job security.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.