The U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July, beating analysts’ expectations in a better-than-expected report, but still not offering much of a sign that a robust recovery was taking shape. The unemployment rate also ticked down from 9.2% to 9.1%.
Private non-farm payrolls actually increased by 154,000, but a loss of 37,000 government jobs dragged the total figure down.
U.S. stock markets, whose futures had been down following sharp overnight losses in Asian and European markets, opened in positive territory on the news.
Jobs numbers were also revised upward for June and May, noting that the economy added an additional 56,000 and 46,000 jobs in those months respectively.
