Jobs Report: U.S. Adds 222,000 To The Employment Rolls In June

WASHINGTON, DC — The American economy added 222,000 jobs in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, coming in well above the average this year and surpassing most expectations. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.4. percent.

"Upward revisions to prior months mean that job gains have averaged 180,000 per month in 2017, which is consistent with last year's pace," said Curt Long, chief economist at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions. "But wage growth has stalled, which will add to fears that low inflation may not improve any time soon." (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"Hiring is back to where it has been throughout much of the eight-year-old economic expansion," said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com's senior economic analyst. "With a June surge in hiring and upward revisions to payroll gains for April and May, the past three months are looking better than what we’d been thinking. Growth is modest, not spectacular, which is to be expected for a mature expansion."

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But how is the economy changing as a whole?

"As we drill down to sectors, the goods-producing realm generated 25,000 jobs, with construction adding 16,000, manufacturing just above flat with a thousand jobs added and mining/logging adding 8,000 jobs," Hamrick said. "Recently struggling retailing bounced back with 8,000 new jobs."

Even this increase in the retail sector, however, might not be enough to make up for the 51,000 jobs lost in that field in the last three months.

The Federal Reserve is suggesting that interest rates will continue to rise this year, putting a damper on hopes for a major acceleration in economic activity. With inflation consistently coming in below its 2 percent target, many monetary policy doves question the wisdom of the Fed's course. But there's been little indication that the fed will change course.

President Trump recently claimed that the media does not report on positive economic data enough.

"Really great numbers on jobs & the economy! Things are starting to kick in now, and we have just begun!" he tweeted on July 3. "At some point the Fake News will be forced to discuss our great jobs numbers, strong economy, success with ISIS, the border & so much else!"

However, while job growth has been decent since Trump's inauguration, it has come slightly below 2016's trends. Last year, job growth averaged 187,000 jobs per month. Between January and June of this year, monthly job growth averaged 180,000 — almost exactly the same.

Back in 2016, Trump called the unemployment numbers fake, suggesting that the "real unemployment rate" may be as high as 40 percent. He dropped these claims after taking office, despite the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made no changes to its methodology.

However, as Greg Ip, chief economics commentator for the Wall Street Journal, notes, economic indicators are in no way a direct measure of a president's performance:

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