ARLINGTON, Va.—July’s jobs numbers saw gains of 255,000 across a variety of industries, but NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long said it will not be enough to cause the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in September.
“While this was a second consecutive strong jobs report, which helps to abate concerns of a sharp slowdown in the labor market, it will not be enough to move the Fed to raise rates in September,” Long wrote in a NAFCU Macro Data Flash. “For those policy makers in the ‘wait and see’ camp, poor GDP growth and weak inflation provide enough justification for waiting at least until December for the next rate hike.”
Jobs numbers for May and June were also revised upward to 24,000 and 292,000 respectively.
The professional and business services sector saw the largest jobs increase in July, at 70,000, while the mining sector lost 7,000 jobs. Average hourly wages rose by eight cents to $25.69, and wages were up 2.6% year over year – higher than the year-over-year average since 2009 of 2.1%, Long noted.