U.S. unemployment rises to 4.3 pct in cooling labor market

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. employers added only 114,000 jobs in July, raising unemployment to 4.3 percent and signaling a continuous cooling-down of the labor market, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.

Employment continued to trend up in health care, construction, transportation, and warehousing, while the information industry lost jobs, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 114,000 in July, below the average monthly gain of 215,000 over the prior 12 months, said the report.

The growth in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised down by 2,000 to 216,000, and the change for June was revised down by 27,000 to a gain of 179,000. With these revisions, employment in May and June combined is 29,000 lower than previously reported.

In February, the unemployment rate increased to 3.9 percent, the highest level in two years, before slightly dropping to 3.8 percent in March. In April, the unemployment rate again edged up to 3.9 percent before ticking up to 4.0 percent in May. For June, the unemployment rose to 4.1 percent.

The 4.3-percent unemployment rate marks the highest since October 2021. With the latest data for July, the unemployment rate has been trending up for four consecutive months, as the labor market shows signs of weakening.

Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute and a former official from the International Monetary Fund, told Xinhua that he believes the Federal Reserve (Fed) should have cut rates at their meeting earlier this week.

"Inflation has come down to close to the Fed's 2-percent inflation target, the economy is slowing, and the labor market is no longer overheated," Lachman said. "In addition, the global economy seems to be souring and the Fed's high interest rates are exacerbating the slow motion train wreck underway in the real commercial property market."

Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Xinhua: "It is important to remember the Fed has two mandates. It can't wait until it is 100 percent certain that inflation is back at target. It has to keep in mind its full employment mandate."

There is a "real risk" that unemployment will rise further in the rest of this year, said Baker.

In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8 cents, or 0.2 percent, to 35.07 U.S. dollars. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.6 percent.