UPDATE - US adds 372,000 jobs in June, unemployment unchanged at 3.6%

ADDS BIDEN'S REMARKS

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – The US economy added 372,000 jobs in June, above market estimates, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6%, the Labor Department announced on Friday.

The market estimate for nonfarm payrolls was an increase of 268,000.

The job additions for May were revised down by 6,000, from 390,000 to 384,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Unemployment remained steady at 3.6% for the fourth straight month, in line with market expectations.

The number of unemployed people in the US also remained unchanged at 5.9 million in June.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, more than 22 million people in the world’s largest economy lost their jobs in March and April 2020.​​​​​​​

President Joe Biden said the private sector has recovered all of the jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic and added jobs on top of that.

"In the second quarter of this year, we created more jobs than in any quarter under any of my predecessors in the nearly 40 years before the pandemic," he said, according to a statement released by the White House.

The president noted that the strong job market is a major reason for the American economy to be able to tackle global economic challenges, from high inflation to Russia's war on Ukraine.

Biden, however, noted that additional job growth from the current strong position will be slower, since the unemployment rate in the country is at historically low levels.