Jobs report exceeds expectations but unemployment rise signals cooling labor market

Amna Nawaz:

Today, President Joe Biden is digging in. In more than one appearance today, he underscored that he has no plans to leave the campaign, despite calls from some Democrats and supporters. We will have more on that story later in the program.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected last month, marking the 42nd consecutive month of job growth; 206,000 new jobs were added in June. Government hiring accounted for more than a third of those, followed by health care, social assistance and construction. Unemployment also inched up to 4.1 percent, making it the first time it’s risen above 4 percent in more than two years.

And there were other signs of a cooling labor market. Job gains in April and may were revised downward by more than 100,000 jobs.

For a deeper look at what this means for the economy, I’m joined by Roben Farzad, host of public radio’s “Full Disclosure.”

Roben, always good to see you.

So what do these numbers say to you? Is it a sign that the economy may be cooling?

Roben Farzad, Host, “Full Disclosure”: Certainly, market watchers have been looking for that, econ watchers, for the longest time, because the Fed had to ratchet up rates after its error, I think, coming out of the pandemic and leaving rates too low for too long, and so still in the process, I think, of mopping up inflation.

But it’s odd. Are you rooting for good news? Yes, if you’re the White House. Are you rooting for bad news? Maybe if you’re investors or traders. And yet the market is at an all-time high. Real estate is at an all-time high. Crypto is looking puff.

So it’s a real debate on Wall Street. Do we even need rate cuts? Maybe the Fed just needs an excuse to maybe take down a little and wait and see.