Employment increased by 209,000 jobs in June, falling below analyst expectations, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That marked the slowest month of job creation since the pandemic, although the unemployment rate declined one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.6%.
The professional and business services sector added 21,000 jobs, including 1,800 in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. Monthly job growth in professional and business services has averaged 40,000 so far this year, down from 62,000 per month last year. Employment in government, health care, social assistance and construction also continued to trend upward in June.
Average hourly earnings rose 12 cents, or 0.4%, to $33.58 in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 4.4%.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The BLS revised downward the job numbers for April and May, reducing the employment number for April by 77,000, from a gain of 294,000 to 217,000, and the change for May by 33,000, from 339,000 to 306,000. With both revisions, employment in April and May combined was 110,000 lower than previously reported.
The lukewarm job numbers contrasted with the report released Thursday by ADP on private sector payrolls, showing 497,000 jobs were added last month (see story).
The accounting sector appears to be experiencing lower attrition rates compared to prior years, according to one recruiting firm, but there could be a significant acceleration in the market’s momentum near the start of the fourth quarter, with continued or even heightened demand for accountants.
“As we navigate through these seasonal periods, we remain confident in the industry’s growth potential,” said Werner Barnard, chief revenue and growth officer at Sapro, which provides workforce talent to public accounting firms. “Despite the slight dip in job growth, we anticipate a continuation of the positive trajectory in the coming months, reflecting a robust and accelerating talent demand cycle.”
The White House reacted positively to the jobs report. “This is Bidenomics in action: Our economy added more than 200,000 jobs last month — for a total of 13.2 million jobs since I took office,” said President Biden in a statement. “That’s more jobs added in two and a half years than any president has ever created in a four-year term. The unemployment rate has now remained below 4 percent for 17 months in a row — the longest stretch since the 1960s. The share of working-age Americans who have jobs is at the highest level in over 20 years. Inflation has come down by more than half. We are seeing stable and steady growth. That’s Bidenomics — growing the economy by creating jobs, lowering costs for hardworking families, and making smart investments in America.”
Economists are questioning whether the jobs report will be enough to keep the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates further after a recent Fed meeting indicated that officials still plan to raise interest rates at least twice more before the end of the year to bring inflation down to the 2% range.
“The deceleration in June hiring and the downward revision of past months’ payrolls aren’t enough to put the Fed at ease,” wrote Stuart Paul and Eliza Winger, economists at Bloomberg Economics. “Though labor supply and demand are coming into better balance, monthly gains in wages and hours worked add to an inflationary impulse that the Fed will need to tame, given its focus on supercore services inflation.”
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