Despite fears over the Delta variant and companies struggling with tight labor supply, hiring rose in July.
Non-farm payrolls figures came in at 943,000, while the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%. Both figures beat estimates: 870,000 new jobs and 5.7%, respectively. While the number of payrolls is impressive, the drop in the unemployment rate was surprising considering that the labor force participation rate ticked up to 61.7%, tied for the highest level since the pandemic hit in March 2020.
Following the past several months' trend, leisure and hospitality added the most jobs – 380,000. It was tailed by education, with 261,000 new hires.
After the news hit the wires, USA30 gained 0.2%.
Sources: cnbc.com, forexfactory.com