UPDATE - US adds 114,000 jobs in July, falling short of estimates

UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL FIGURES

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 114,000 jobs in July, significantly below market estimates, according to figures released Friday by the Labor Department.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was a gain of 176,000 jobs last month.

Job additions for June were also revised down by 27,000, from 206,000 to 179,000.

The unemployment rate increased to 4.3% in July from 4.1% in June, against market expectations that it would remain unchanged.

The number of unemployed people decreased to 5.9 million in July from 6.8 million in June, while the labor force participation rate edged up to 62.7% from 62.6% during that period.

The employment-population ratio, meanwhile, slightly fell to 60.0% in July, from 60.1% the month before.

In July, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job increased by 366,000 to 5.6 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 health care with a gain of 55,000. This was followed by construction with 25,000, and transportation and warehousing with 14,000.

In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls increased by 0.2% to $35.07 per hour, compared to June.

That figure showed an annual increase of 3.6%, compared to the same month of 2023.