Big Jobs Numbers — U.S. Economy Adds 528,000 in July

Big Jobs Numbers — U.S. Economy Adds 528,000 in July

The U.S. economy added a robust 528,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department announced Friday. The employment level now returns payrolls to their prepandemic level. The jobless rate dropped to 3.5%.

The new numbers come as the country is now in a de facto recession —two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The White House denies the country is in a "recession."

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In a visit to Maine, one of the top bankers in the country said is not really in a recession.

"Right now the American economy is kind of strong you know," Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. "Recession, the technical terms of recession, shrinking GDP—I'm not sure I even believe those numbers by the way because they are so distorted coming out of COVID, supply chains, unemployment."

"That doesn't sound like a recession to me currently," he said. "But there are a lot of things on the horizon that people should be legitimately worried about."

Jobs

Overall employment also has nearly returned to prepandemic levels. But demand for workers is cooling as the economy transitions away from the red-hot expansion that followed the elimination of Covid-19-related restrictions on business activity.

Some industries are seeing layoffs. Robinhood announced this week it was slashing 23% of its workforce.

“Companies used to reach for layoffs as the first option,” said Greg Daco, chief economist for EY-Parthenon, a consulting firm told the Wall Street Journal. “Now we’re seeing slower hiring as option number one, followed by targeted hiring freezes, followed by targeted layoffs, followed by broader layoffs.”

RI reported the lowest unemployment in 49 years.