U.S. adds 528,000 jobs in July

The United States added 528,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in July, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing gained 30,000 jobs in the month.

“Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care,” the bureau said in its monthly statement on non-farm payrolls. “Both total non-farm employment and the unemployment rate have returned to their February 2020 pre-pandemic levels.”

Private-sector employment is 629,000 higher than in February 2020, the Department of Labor said. Among the sectors yet to recover to early-2020 levels is leisure and hospitality, which added 96,000 jobs in July, including 74,000 in food and beverage services. However, July employment in leisure and hospitality is still down 1.2 million jobs from February 2020.

Among manufacturers, durable goods industries and miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing added 25,000 jobs in the month, while -30-the semiconductor and electronic components segment gained 4,000 positions.