U.S. employers added a booming 528,000 jobs in July as the labor market now has recovered all 22 million jobs lost in the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to defy soaring inflation, rising interest rates and a slowing economy, USA Today reported. The unemployment rate fell from 3.6% to 3.5%, matching a 50-year low reached just before the pandemic began in early 2020, the Labor Department said Friday. July's payroll increases were broad-based. Leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants and bars, the sector hit hardest by COVID-19, led the job gains with 96,000. Professional and business services added 89,000 jobs; health care, 70,000; construction, 32,000; manufacturing, 30,000; and retail, 22,000 jobs. Federal, state and local governments added 57,000 jobs. The employment recovery, however, masks divergent narratives for the public and private sectors. While businesses recouped all jobs lost in June and are now 629,000 positions above the pre-COVID-19 level, government is still nearly 600,000 jobs below that benchmark. That’s mostly because state and local governments haven’t been able to provide the pay increases, remote work options and flexible hours offered by the private sector since the pandemic began in spring 2020. In addition to July's robust payroll gains, average hourly earnings rose 15 cents to $32.27, pushing the annual increase from 5.1% to 5.2% and threatening to intensify inflation pressures.
