The US economy created more jobs than expected in June. Nationwide, 850,000 jobs were added from Friday, according to the US Department of Labor. The unemployment rate rose slightly compared to the previous month by 0.1 points to 5.9 percent, as the ministry announced.
The data from the labor market in the world’s largest economy are always carefully studied on the world’s stock exchanges. Financial analysts had only expected an average increase of 720,000 jobs. A particularly large number of jobs have been added in the leisure and hospitality industry, in education and in retail, it said. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to fall to 5.6 percent on average.
There was a major setback in April: only 266,000 jobs were added outside of agriculture. Experts had expected an increase of one million. The situation then improved in May – with an increase of 559,000 jobs, many of them in the hospitality industry, it is said. US President Joe Biden had spoken of “great news” in view of the May figures – and of “historic progress” on the way out of the economic crisis.
The pandemic hit the US economy hard: Employment collapsed at a record pace in the spring of 2020. Since then, the job market has recovered, but there are still many Americans without a job.
Even before the labor market figures were announced, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its growth forecast for the USA this year significantly to 7.0 percent – because of the unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy support.
In April, the IMF was still assuming economic growth of 4.6 percent. The revised forecast represents the fastest growth rate in a generation in the USA, the IMF announced on Thursday in its annual evaluation of the economic policy of the USA. The IMF raised its forecast for growth in economic output (GDP) in the coming year to 4.9 percent; in April it was still assuming 3.5 percent.
According to the IMF, the forecast is based on the assumption that the US Congress will pass the government’s plans for infrastructure measures, social spending and taxes this year in a similar size and composition as the original plans. “The indicators suggest that there is still a significant labor market gap that should act as a safety valve to dampen underlying wage and price pressures,” said the IMF.