Phew. American businesses are hiring again.
The U.S. added 287,000 new jobs in June, according to the Labor Department report released Friday.
It’s a massive rebound from May when the U.S. added a mere 38,000 jobs. In fact, hiring in June hugely exceeded expectations. CNNMoney’s survey of economists projected only 177,000 job gains.
Unemployment rose slightly to 4.9% (up from 4.7% in May). That’s probably a good sign. More Americans appear to be looking for work again. Many believe America is at — or near — full employment, but the overall share of Americans working is at its lowest point since the 1970s. Some of that is because Baby Boomers are retiring, but there’s concern that some people just gave up looking for jobs after the Great Recession.
The strong hiring in June will alleviate fears that the U.S. economy is slowing down. While this raises the possibility the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in 2016 a bit, the stock market still rallied. There seemed to be a sigh of relief on even Wall Street that the U.S. economy still looks solid.
