America has added more than a million jobs since President Trump took office.

The U.S. economy added a strong 209,000 jobs in July, more than economists had expected. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, matching a 16-year low. Just after the Great Recession in 2009, unemployment peaked at 10%.

"The economy is looking pretty good," said Cathy Barrera, chief economic adviser at ZipRecruiter, the job posting site.

Many economists say the United States is at or near "full employment," meaning the unemployment rate won't go down significantly more.

Related: The CNNMoney Trump Jobs Tracker

The job market continues to be one of the main strengths of the U.S. economy. July was the 82nd consecutive month of job growth.

But wage growth is sluggish. Wages grew only 2.5% in July compared with a year earlier. The Federal Reserve would like to see wage growth kick up to 3.5%.

"There's still questions about when we're going to see that spike" in wages, said Chris Gaffney, president of Everbank World Markets. "Are we going to see more wage increases for U.S. workers?"

The United States has added 1.07 million jobs during Trump's six months in office. Of course, he isn't entirely responsible for the job market. A slew of factors throughout the economy affect hiring decisions.

Related: Trump's immigration policy poses risk to economic growth

July's job gains came across the board. Restaurants and bars added 53,000 employees. Health care gained 39,000 new positions. Manufacturing firms hired 16,000 workers. Business services and mining were also among the gainers.

More Americans who were on the sidelines jumped back into the job market in July to look for work. Experts say that as unemployment stays low and wage growth remains steady, more Americans should start looking for work again.

"There's still lots of people coming back into the labor force, looking for jobs," said Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual, an insurance firm.

The good economic news comes days after Trump endorsed an immigration plan aimed at lowering the number of foreign-born workers by designing a skills-based system to determine who gets into the United States. Last year, there were 27 million foreign-born workers in the United States.

Several economists say the plan would put U.S. economic growth at risk if it meant there would be fewer workers in America. Economic growth is already paltry, and Trump has promised to boost it to 3% from its current range of about 2%.

"It would definitely slow economic growth if you slow the number of people coming in," Rick added.</s>U.S. Economy Adds 209,000 Jobs In July, Unemployment Drops To 4.3 Percent

Employers added 209,000 jobs to payrolls last month, according to the government's jobs report released Friday morning. The unemployment rate ticked down a notch to 4.3 percent, matching a 16-year low.</s>WASHINGTON — America has added more than 1 million jobs since President Donald Trump took office.

The U.S. economy gained a strong 209,000 jobs in July, more than economists had expected. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, matching a 16-year low.

Just after the Great Recession in 2009, unemployment peaked at 10 percent.

Many economists say the United States is at or near full employment, meaning the unemployment rate won’t go down significantly more.

The job market continues to be one of the main strengths of the U.S. economy. July was the 82nd consecutive month of job growth.

But wage growth is sluggish. Wages grew only 2.5 percent in July. The Federal Reserve would like to see wage growth kick up to 3.5 percent.

While the United States has added 1.07 million jobs during Trump’s six months in office, he isn’t entirely responsible for the job market’s wins and losses.

A slew of factors throughout the economy affect hiring decisions.</s>The US economy added 209,000 jobs in July while the unemployment rate returned to a 16-year low of 4.3%, the Labor Department said in a report Friday.

Economists had forecast that 180,000 jobs were created during the month, according to Bloomberg. Hiring in June was revised to a faster rate than previously reported, by 9,000 jobs to 231,000.

The leisure and hospitality industry added 62,000 jobs last month, or nearly one in every three jobs created, led by restaurants. Retail hiring, which has slowed this year amid mass department-store closures, increased for the first time since January by 900 on net. General merchandise stores such as Walmart, which sell a variety of products, hired a net 4,200 workers.

Wage growth remained sluggish in July, with average hourly earnings increasing by 0.3% month-on-month — as expected — and 2.5% year-on-year (compared with 2.4% expected).



In theory, wages should be growing at a faster pace than this because the unemployment rate is so low, meaning that the supply of workers available for hire is limited.

However, Nomura's Lewis Alexander says wages are likely to stay low in this economic expansion relative to others partly because people aren't switching jobs as frequently as before.

"Labor market turnover, an important driver of wage growth, has recently flattened, even as the unemployment rate has continued to fall," Alexander said in a preview.

The share of working-age Americans who were part of the workforce rose to 62.9% from 62.8%. One group of workers that have been coming back to the jobs market at a quick rate is prime age workers between 25 and 54. Their labor-force participation rose to a new post-recession high of 78.7%, showing that the recovery in jobs has attracted them back into the workforce.

More to come ...</s>US employers added strong 209K jobs in July, unemployment rate ticks down to 4.3 percent.</s>The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent, according to a government report Friday.



 Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected the report to show growth of 183,000 with the jobless rate ticking down to 4.3 percent, the lowest since March 2001. A more encompassing rate that includes discouraged workers and the underemployed was unchanged at 8.6 percent.

The number of employed Americans also hit a fresh new high at 153.5 million. The employment-to-population ratio also moved up to 60.2 percent, its highest level since February 2009.

Stock market futures liked the news, rising to indicate a positive open, while government bond yields also moved considerably higher.

"Kind of all-around strong headline number," said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets for Citizens Bank. "More people are coming into the labor force and finding jobs. It's difficult to find anything really negative in the report."

The closely watched wage number was unchanged from previous months, with average hourly earnings up 2.5 percent. The average work week also was unchanged at 34.5 hours.

Bars and restaurants provided the biggest boost for the month with 53,000 more positives, while professional and business services contributed 49,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.</s>The U.S. economy created an estimated 209,000 jobs in July, representing a modest slowdown from the previous month but coming in better than many economists had expected. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its monthly report that, statistically, July showed little change from previous months, as the number of unemployed persons remained around 7 million.

At 4.3 percent, the jobs rate is near the point that most economists deem full employment. Around 200,000 new jobs a month is considered a sign of a robust economy.

The figures for June were revised upward, with the BLS saying that 231,000 jobs were created in the month instead of the originally reported 222,000.

However, the number for May was revised downward to 145,000 from 152,000 in the initial report.

It was the 82nd consecutive month of jobs growth. Job gains have averaged 184,000 per month so far this year, slightly lower than last year’s pace, according to David Benson, chief economist at Nationwide.

Reacting to the news, President Trump in a tweet called the numbers “excellent.”

“I have only just begun,” he wrote.

NPR’s Chris Arnold says that “this latest report suggests that the U.S. economy is in pretty good shape.”

Food services, drinking places, professional and business services and health care all saw gains.

The average workweek was unchanged at 34.5 hours. Average hourly wages rose by 9 cents, to $26.36.

“Wage growth remains sluggish,” Chris says. “Average hourly earnings were up 2.5 percent from a year ago. And most economists would like to see wages rising more quickly.”

The national unemployment rate has been falling more or less steadily since a peak of 10 percent in 2009, in the midst of the Great Recession.</s>209,000 New Jobs In July As Unemployment Dips To 4.3 Percent

Employers added 209,000 jobs to payrolls in July and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3 percent. That's according to the government's latest jobs report released this morning.</s>(CNN Money) — America has added more than a million jobs since President Trump took office.

The U.S. economy gained a strong 209,000 jobs in July, more than economists had expected. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, matching a 16-year low. Just after the Great Recession in 2009, unemployment peaked at 10%.

Many economists say the United States is at or near “full employment,” meaning the unemployment rate won’t go down significantly more.

The job market continues to be one of the main strengths of the U.S. economy. July was the 82nd consecutive month of job growth.

But wage growth is sluggish. Wages grew only 2.5% in July. The Federal Reserve would like to see wage growth kick up to 3.5%.</s>WASHINGTON - U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in July, a second straight month of robust gains that underscore the economy's vitality as it enters a ninth year of expansion.

The unemployment rate slipped to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent, matching a 16-year low first reached in May, the Labor Department said Friday.

But growth in Americans' paychecks — a persistent weak spot since the recovery began in June 2009 — remains stubbornly slow. Average hourly pay rose by 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the same tepid annual pace as in June. That's below the 3.5 percent to 4 percent that is typical when the unemployment rate is this low.

Still, the hiring data points to a healthy economy despite some mixed signals in recent weeks. Employers appear to be optimistic about their businesses and future consumer demand. The solid job gains may also fuel greater consumer spending, which would bolster economic growth.

"The July jobs report is solid from top to bottom — with the caveat that wage growth, while stronger than expected, remains subdued," Andrew Hollenhorst, an economist at Citi.

Hiring was particularly strong in restaurants and bars, which added 53,100 jobs. Education and health care, which includes both higher-paying and lower-paying jobs, gained 54,000.

Manufacturers added a solid 16,000 jobs. Professional and business services, which includes mostly higher-paying jobs such as engineers, accountants and architects, added 49,000.

Retail jobs were mostly unchanged, as brick and mortar shops continue to struggle. Yet transportation and wahrehousing, which has been boosted in recent years by the rapid growth of e-commerce, also barely added jobs.

The solid job market is also reflected in recent corporate moves. Amazon held a nationwide "hiring day" Wednesday in an effort to fill 50,000 jobs. And President Donald Trump has highlighted announcements by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn and carmakers Toyota and Mazda to open plants in the U.S.

Overall, hiring this year has averaged 184,000 a month, roughly in line with 2016's average of 187,000.

Other recent economic reports had sent mixed signals. Americans are buying homes at a healthy pace, but car sales have fallen off. Factory production is expanding modestly, but a report Thursday pointed to slower growth among services firms, such as retailers, banks and construction companies. Consumers also turned cautious in June and barely raised their spending compared with May.

The economy expanded at a healthy 2.6 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter, up from an anemic 1.2 percent in the first three months of the year. Still, that leaves the growth at about 2 percent in the first half of the year, the same modest pace of growth the U.S. has experienced since the Great Recession.
The U.S. economy added over 200,000 jobs last month, dropping the country's unemployment rate to match a previous 16-year low at 4.3%. Wage growth remained below the Federal Reserve Board's target of 3.5%.