A strengthening U.S. labor market added cushion to the economic recovery in July ahead of the surge in cases of the coronavirus’s Delta variant, with employers creating jobs at the best pace in nearly a year and the unemployment rate falling sharply.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 943,000 in July, the best gain in 11 months, the Labor Department said Friday.
The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, fell to 5.4% last month from 5.9% in June to touch the lowest level since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. in March 2020. The latest data also showed some additional workers were drawn off the sidelines, and wages rose at a strong rate.
Friday’s report shows that the U.S. economy is facing any threat posed by the Delta variant with a strong tailwind. The economy has recovered rapidly this year with availability of vaccines, business reopenings, pent-up consumer demand and aid flowing from multiple rounds of government stimulus legislation. So far there is little evidence to suggest that the recent case surge is significantly slowing the U.S. recovery.
This is an indisputably good report.
The two question marks are Covid, specifically the Delta variant, and what happens when the stimulus programs run out.
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