US economy adds less-than-expected 73,000 jobs in July

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 73,000 jobs in July, well below market expectations, according to data from the Labor Department released on Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls last month was set to show a gain of 106,000.

Job additions for June, meanwhile, were revised down by 133,000, from 147,000 to 14,000.

"Employment continued to trend up in health care and social assistance. Federal government continued to lose jobs," the department said.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2% in July from 4.1% in June, matching forecasts.

The number of unemployed people was little changed at 7.2 million in July, while the labor force participation rate was at 62.2%.

Meanwhile, the employment-to-population ratio was stable at 59.6% in July, according to the Labor Department.

The number of people not in the labor force but currently wanting a job in July was little changed at 6.2 million.

"These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job," it said.

The average hourly earnings for all employees on non-farm payrolls rose 0.3% to $36.44 in July compared to June while it was up by 3.9% on an annual basis.