UPDATE 2 - US adds 206,000 jobs in June, more than estimates of 191,000

ADDS PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S REMARKS, EXPERT'S COMMENT AND INFLATION DATA

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 206,000 jobs in June, more than market estimates, according to Labor Department figures released Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was to show a gain of 191,000 last month.

Job additions for May, on the other hand, were revised down by 54,000, from 272,000 to 218,000.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 4.1% in June from 4% in May.

The market estimate for that figure was to remain unchanged at 4%.

The number of unemployed people slightly increased to 6.8 million in June, from 6.6 million in May, while the labor force participation rate slightly rose to 62.6% from 62.5% during that period.

The employment-population ratio, on the other hand, held steady at 60.1% during that period.

In June, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job declined by 483,000 to 5.2 million, the Labor Department said in a statement.

"These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job," it added.

Last month, most employment was seen in government employment with a gain of 70,000. This was followed by health care with 49,000 and social assistance with 34,000.

In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls increased by 0.3% to $35.00 per hour, compared to May.

That figure showed an annual increase of 3.9%, compared to the same month of 2023.

President Joe Biden later said in a statement released by the White House that the US has "more work to do," but wages are growing faster than prices and more Americans are joining the workforce.

He said the US has reached the highest share of working-age Americans in the workforce in over 20 years, and that a record 15.7 million jobs have been created during his administration.

"Too many Americans are still feeling squeezed by the cost of the living," he said in the statement. "I’m fighting to lower costs by taking on corporate price gouging, capping the cost of insulin and prescription drugs, and calling on Congress to lower rent by building 2 million new homes."

Biden argued that Congressional Republicans side with billionaires and will supercharge inflation, claiming that they would impose high consumer tariffs, give tax cut to the wealthy, and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Mark Zandi, a chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, wrote on X that it is time for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

"That’s the message in today’s jobs report for June. Unemployment while still low is steadily notching higher. Job and wage growth while still strong are steadily moderating. The Fed has met its full employment mandate," he said.

"This comes after last week’s stellar report on inflation which indicates the Fed’s inflation target is in clear view. Harmonized inflation is firmly below target. Hard to justify a restrictive 5.5% federal funds rate."

The Fed's preferred inflation indicator, the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, monthly rose 2.6% in May, down from the 2.8% year-on-year gain in April.

On a monthly basis, the core PCE price index increased 0.1% in May, also slowing its pace from a 0.3% month-on-month increase in April.