Surpassing all expectations by U.S. economists, employers added 213,000 jobs in June - reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average employment growth in 2018 has averaged 215,000 jobs per month.
In its monthly report, the Labor Department said that six hundred thousand people joined the work force in June, actively hunting for a job. The number of Americans working part time - because of their inability to find a full-time position - fell. So, also, did the number of those too discouraged to search for work.
Andrew Chamberlain, Chief Economist at Glassdoor, stated:
"Today's jobs report marks the economy's 93rd consecutive month of positive job gains, by far the longest streak on record. Despite growing uncertainty about a possible U.S. trade war, the economy continues to run hot this summer with many employers riding a wave of tax stimulus."
The labor force in June rose to 4 percent – up from 3.8 percent in May – which provided more good news.
As Cathy Barrera, the Chief Economist for ZipRecruiter, an employment marketplace based in Santa Monica, California, said:
“I’m really excited to see that the labor force is growing.”
She added:
"Given the talk about labor shortages, it is great to see this increase in labor force participation. While the unemployment rate did uptick, it is due to more individuals looking for jobs, which is good news for the labor market."
She went on to explain:
“The increase in the labor force size came solely from those with a high school degree or less—good news that the participation of this group is increasing. The anecdotal evidence of labor shortages tend to center on entry-level jobs. So those who have re-entered the labor force this month are a good fit for positions that employers have been struggling to fill.”
Agreeing with Cathy Berrara - Marc Cenedella, the CEO of Ladders, a careers site from New York City, stated:
"For employers concerned about a tightening labor market, the continued growth in the workforce and the return of workers who had dropped out during the recession indicate that the strengthening economy will continue to deliver newly available employees for hire in the years ahead.”
The more immediate challenge for employers, however, is finding qualified and reliable workers at the going wage rate, as the 2.7 percent increase in the average hourly wage was found to be disappointing by workers.
Martha Gimbel, Research Director for Indeed's Hiring Lab, stated:
"Wage growth continues to bounce around in the range that we've seen since the beginning of 2016. With payroll growth continuing at this pace, and several measures such as the prime-age employment rate still not fully recovered, it seems likely that workers may have to continue to wait to see wage growth show up."
However, the competition is giving more employees the confidence to quit in search of a better deal. Job openings are striding ahead of the number of workers ready to fill them. Several employers said their reluctance to raise prices limited the wages they could offer.
But Joan Burke, Chief People Officer of DocuSign, an electronic-signature company with more than $500 million in annual revenue and who added 100 sales; engineering and technical workers last month, remarked:
“You just cannot be in this game without being competitive.”
