A brutal July payrolls report landed on Friday, 7 August, and the Federal Reserve’s calculus shifted almost immediately. Employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, the first net employment loss si
A brutal July payrolls report landed on Friday, 7 August, and the Federal Reserve’s calculus shifted almost immediately. Employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, the first net employment loss since the pandemic-era recovery, and a sharp miss against the 95,000 gain economists had expected.
The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, but only because more workers exited the labour force entirely. June’s payroll figure was revised down to 20,000 from an earlier reading of 57,000, and May’s count was nearly halved. The revisions compounded the headline shock.
