Article source: ConstructConnect
It’ll be hard for anyone to find much fault with July’s Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The total number of jobs gained during the month was +528,000, which beat the previous six-month average of +461,000. Interestingly, it was just about a match for January-to-June 2021’s average of +533,000.
My concern is that the news may be too good. Will it instruct the Fed that the economy remains too hot, and is begging to be restrained by aggressive interest rate hikes beyond what are already expected? Will the Fed figure it needs to go past ‘neutrality’ (i.e., a federal funds rate of 3.50% as a ceiling) in its assault on inflation?
The most striking development is that the total U.S. jobs count has finally returned to a level approximately even with peak employment immediately prior to the onset of the pandemic.
