No Sign of Recession as Job Market Stays Hot, Teeing Up More Fed Rate Hikes – By Michael Rainey (The Fiscal Times) / July 7, 2022
Payrolls grew by 372,000 in June, the Labor Department announced Friday, easing fears over a potential recession while clearing the way for another round of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve later this month and beyond.
The unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%, as analysts expected, while the alternative U6 measure of unemployment, which includes discouraged and some part-time workers, fell sharply to 6.7% — an all-time low that suggests the labor market remains exceptionally tight.
Wages grew at a 5.1% annual clip in June, slightly above expectations but nevertheless a decline from the month earlier, when the annual rate hit 5.3%. The results suggest wage pressures are easing and provide little support for the view that inflation is being driven by workers’ demands for pay increases.
One disappointing number in the report was the labor force participation rate, which ticked lower to 62.2%. Still, that points to tighter labor market conditions as some workers move to the sidelines.
