U.S. Jobless Rate Fell To 4.8 Percent in July: Wages Were Unchanged, Labor Dept. Reports
The U.S. economy continued to create jobs last month as the unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, although wages did not rise, the Labor Department reported yesterday.</br></br>The July rate represented a dip from 5 percent in June, but matched the May level, which was the lowest in 24 years.</br></br>Joblessness among blacks remained more than twice that of whites, but the black unemployment rate nevertheless fell by a full percentage point to 9.4 percent last month, its lowest level in 19 years.</br></br>Employers added 316,000 workers to their payrolls, considerably more than analysts had expected, with the biggest gains in the transportation, health and business services and wholesale and retail trade industries. The number of manufacturing jobs dipped by 5,000, tire department said.</br></br>However, some details of the report suggested considerably less strength in the economy than implied by the drop in the jobless rate from June's level and tire large rise in payroll jobs, analysts said.