U.S. unemployment rate rose in July to 8.3%, the highest level in five months, although the number of jobs in the world’s largest economy rose by 163,000, well above economists expected. In June, U.S. jobs rose by 64,000 and the unemployment rate was 8.2%. Data for July were announced Friday by the Labor Department in Washington, writes Bloomberg. Analysts contacted by Bloomberg estimated an increase of 100,000 jobs and stagnant unemployment at 8.2%.
Layoffs announced by companies such as Morgan Stanley and Cisco Systems suggest that unemployment will remain high, one of the reasons why the U.S. Federal Reserve is preparing to take measures to stimulate the economy. High unemployment brings down consumer spending, the most important sector of the U.S. economy. Businesses are affected by the global economic slowdown and imminent change in the domestic tax system.
“The increasing in the number of jobs is not strong enough to bite on the unemployment rate. It is unrealistic to expect strong increases in consumer spending. Fed officials will wait until it is clearer what will happen on the fiscal policy front,” commented Bloomberg Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at the consulting company and market research MFR in New York.
Number of private sector jobs in the U.S. rose in July by 172,000, after an additional 73,000 in June. In the government sector, staff numbers fell by 9,000 for the second consecutive month. The median income rose in July by 2 cents, to $23.52 per hour, according to the report presented Friday by the U.S. government. The average number of hours worked per week has remained the same at 34.5. U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8% since February 2009, the longest such period since 1948.
By the end of June, the U.S. economy has recovered about 3.8 million of the 8.8 million jobs that disappeared during the long recession of 18 months, which ended in mid-2009, notes Bloomberg. Unemployment and the economy are crucial issues in the presidential election campaign this fall, played between President Barack Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. U.S. GDP grew by 1.5% in the second quarter comparing to the same period last year, after an advance of 2% in the first three months of the year.
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