WASHINGTON, July 3 – US job creation picked up solidly in June, pushing the jobless rate down to 6.1 percent, boosting confidence in the economy and sending stocks flying to new records.
Leaving behind the first-quarter contraction, the economy pumped out a much better-than-expected 288,000 net new jobs last month, Labor Department data showed Thursday.
The June numbers capped the best half-year for the US employment market since the 2008-2009 Great Recession: an average of 231,000 new positions added each month since January.
That has helped pull the unemployment rate down much faster than predicted. At 6.1 percent, the rate was down 0.2 percentage points from May and 1.4 points from a year ago.
“In light of the recent volatility of GDP, we look to the employment report as the key barometer to measure the health of the economy,” said Doug Handler, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight.
“This report puts a smile on the face of all economists who, like IHS, are forecasting strong economic growth in the second half of the year.”
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Đăng ký: VietNam News