U.S. employers added 117,000 total jobs in July and 154,000 private workers, as the unemployment rate slid to 9.1%, on a seasonally adjusted basis the Labor Department reported Friday.
Payrolls for May and June were both revised higher, adding a combined 56,000 jobs.
Manufacturing payrolls added 24,000 workers for the month as the motor vehicle and parts sector had fewer seasonal layoffs than usual for July. Jobs rose 75,000 in service industries, with large gains in education and health, professional and business services and in retail trade.
Government employment remained weak, shedding 37,000 jobs, the ninth consecutive monthly decrease, as the state and local government payrolls fell by 39,000. The Minnesota partial government shutdown contributed to most of the state level job cuts as those workers were not on the payroll for part of the month, the Labor Department said.
The total civilian labor force fell by 193,000 individuals.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of 90,000 total jobs and 115,000 private payrolls, according to the median estimate. They expected the unemployment rate to be 9.2%.
In the July report average hourly earnings rose 0.4%. The workweek for all private workers was unchanged at 33.6 hours.
