WSJ on the Jobs Report:
The U.S. added a seasonally adjusted 73,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department reported Friday, below the gain of 100,000 jobs economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.
Revisions cut down the jobs growth originally reported for May and June by a combined 258,000. That left May as having added just 19,000 jobs and June just 14,000.
The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2% from 4.1%. The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer increased to 1.83 million from 1.65 million in June. That increase in the ranks of the long-term unemployed could be a reflection of an environment where layoffs have been low, but companies have been reluctant to hire, making it harder for people without work to find employment.
Revisions have been consistently negative in 2025, with the Labor Department lowering its initially reported job count every month through June.
For June, the jobs numbers that were most notably much lower than originally reported were in state and local education.
When the June employment report was released a month ago, it had shown an increase of 63,500 state and local education jobs. Economists at the time said that was likely a fluky gain attributed to seasonal swings in school employment that the Labor Department can struggle to adjust for.
The revised figures took that June job gain down to 7,500.
The recent trend in downward revisions could reflect the fact that not all businesses respond to the Labor Department’s monthly employer survey in time for the initial report. Those that do are more likely to be large, well-capitalized and seasoned. Later responders might be less equipped to handle challenges such as high tariffs and the sharp slowdown in the supply of immigrant labor. As their responses come in, the numbers get revised lower. |
