woman covers her face with paper. text talks about employment and unemployment


Just 73,000 jobs were filled nationwide in July while the rate of unemployment also remains consistent at 4.2 percent, according to an Aug. 1 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Job growth is occurring most often in health care and social assistance, according to the survey, which measures the total labor force outside of farming. There were 55,000 health care jobs filled in July, which exceeds the monthly average of 42,000 per month over the past year. Hospitals saw the second most growth within the cleaning industry at 16,000 new jobs, which is of interest to the cleaning industry. Also of interest to the cleaning industry, federal employment dropped by another 12,000, and is down 84,000 since a rise in January.

The average hourly earnings for all workers in U.S. rose 12 cents to $36.44. Over the past year, earnings have rose by 3.9 percent. The average pay for those in private sector production and nonsupervisory roles is $31.34. The average employee works 34.3 hours a week, up 0.1 hours.

While the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, the BLS reports unemployment has been stuck between 4 and 4.2 percent since May 2024, so it is steady. The unemployment rate is higher among men than women, at 4 and 3.7 percent, respectively. The number of people who are seeking their first job rose by 275,000 in July, with just under 1 million seeking to reach that life milestone. The rate in which people participate in the labor force is 62.2 percent, down a half point over the year.

For more detail, check out the BLS' complete findings here.