Unlike some of the unique personalities battling it out in this presidential campaign (we won’t mention any names), the July 2015 jobs report released this morning was steady, void of drama and in line with expectations.
Here are three things to know from today’s report:
1. Jobs numbers were solid, but some say “so-so.” U.S. employers added 215,000 jobs in June, which is a little lower than the 225,000 that economists were expecting but still a solid number. The unemployment rate held steady at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.
2. Wage growth? Yes please! According to Business Insider: “Wages grew a bit in July after coming in flat in the prior period. Average hourly earnings grew 0.2% month-over-month (+0.2% expected) and 2.1% (+2.3% expected) year-over-year in July.” Granted the increase isn’t something to be jumping up and down about, but we’ll take any increase we can get.
3. These industries came out on top. There are no winners and losers in life… just kidding! As Forbes reported, here are some industries that are winning at adding more jobs than others: “The sectors that added the most jobs were: retail trade (36,000), health care (28,000) and professional and technical services (27,000). Mining was the only major industry to lose jobs, cutting 5,000.”