The U.S. economy added 224,000 jobs in June, heavily beating expectations and creating a cautious optimism among analysts wary of the dismal growth seen in May.
The unemployment rate remained largely unchanged at 3.7 percent — or 6 million people — in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Friday in its monthly jobs report.
“The number did beat expections but ... it was pretty abysmal a month ago, and that was revised downward,” Mitch Roschelle, a partner at PwC, told Cheddar.
In Friday’s report, the BLS amended its May figures from 75,000 to just 72,000 jobs added. June’s employment growth was, however, way above the average of 172,000 per month in 2019 so far. The average monthly gain for 2018 was 223,000 jobs.
The industries with the largest gains were professional and business services and health care, which added more than 51,000 and 35,000 jobs in June respectively. The transportation and warehousing sector added roughly 24,000 jobs.
"JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!" President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning.
<i>U.S. Labor Department</i>
In June, average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents and have increased by 3.1 percent over the past 12 months.
The report indicates “that the labor market remains a strength of the economy” and “should ease some of the pressure that the Fed faces to cut rates,” Doug Duncan, the senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, said in a statement to Cheddar.
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates at its Federal Open Market Committee meeting later this month in an effort to hinder a potential downturn in the economy, which is currently experiencing its longest expansion on record.
“There is really nothing out there short of some big black swan event that will slow down this economy,” Roschelle said, noting, however, that a shrinking of the global economy would threaten domestic growth.
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Aurimas Sabulis, CEO of Dextall, unveils how AI‑driven prefabricated façades slash design time by 80%, labor by 87%, and accelerate affordable housing delivery.
