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Adds 4.8 Million Jobs, Above Forecasts
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The rebound in the U.S. labor market accelerated in June as the economy reopened more broadly, before a pickup in coronavirus cases that puts additional gains in jeopardy.To get more news about WikiFX, you can visit wikifx news official website.
The June jobs report reflects a snapshot of mid-month conditions after a flurry of rehiring -- particularly at restaurants and retailers -- but before reopenings screeched to a halt amid rising virus cases around the country. That could slow or stall the rate of improvement in the labor market, with implications for President Donald Trumps reelection chances, as well as for the extension of a U.S. stock-market rally following the best quarter since 1998.
U.S. stocks opened higher following the data. Treasuries and the dollar were lower.
A separate report from the Labor Department showed initial applications for unemployment insurance in regular state programs fell by less than expected, to 1.43 million, in the week ended June 27. Continuing claims -- or claims for ongoing unemployment benefits in state programs -- rose slightly to 19.3 million in the week ended June 20.
Economists had forecast payrolls to rise by 3.23 million -- the median in a range of 500,000 to 9 million -- and an unemployment rate of 12.5%.
“Were still coming off extremely high levels of unemployment, but every step counts,” said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
What Bloombergs Economists Say
“The upward surprise in the June jobs report demonstrates that economic fundamentals remain strong enough to facilitate a relatively robust recovery once Covid-19 is under control. However, in the near term, the positive signal somewhat fades given the recent sharp acceleration in new virus cases and the looming income cliff stemming from the expiration of augmented unemployment benefits this month.
The Labor Departments Bureau of Labor Statistics has largely fixed a problem that resulted in respondents being misclassified as employed when they should have been labeled as unemployed. Adjusted for the errors, the June unemployment rate would have been about 1 percentage point higher than reported -- or 12.3%, compared with an adjusted 16.4% in May. “The degree of misclassification declined considerably in June,” BLS said.