Jobs report comes in ‘below expectations’

Both total nonfarm payroll employment (+57,000) and the unemployment rate (4.2%) changed little in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

"June job growth came below expectations, but the three-month average pace of hiring still runs ahead of last year's, so the labor market retains more momentum than this report implies. The unemployment rate declined, but that reflected more people stepping out of the labor force than workers finding jobs,” said America's Credit Unions' Senior Economist Dawit Kebede. “Markets have moved to price higher odds of a rate hike before year-end as inflation is still the dominant concern. With wage growth continuing to trail inflation, households are steadily losing purchasing power even as the labor market holds together."