US jobs report: Construction unemployment low but job creation slows 

Job growth in the U.S. had another strong month in June and the overall unemployment rate held steady, defying rising interest rates and fears of an impending recession. The construction sector, meanwhile, had only a slight gain, according to the U.S. jobs report, released Friday. The report showed a total of 372,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in June, compared to 384,000 in May. The unemployment rate of 3.6% has now remained unchanged for four months in a row, and is marginally higher than the pre-pandemic level of 3.5% recorded in February 2020. The economy registered 450,000 job gains on average per month during the first half of the year — a robust pace by historical standards, but 524,000 jobs shy of the pre-pandemic high mark. “At the current pace of hiring, we’ll reach that milestone by August,” said Realtor.com’s chief economist Danielle Hale, said in a statement. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality and healthcare. But employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including construction, retail trade, financial activities, government and other services. The construction industry added 13,000 jobs in June, significantly fewer than the 34,000 reported in May. Still, the sector showed an unemployment rate of 3.7%, compared to 7.5% in June 2021. This June, some 385,000 people who list their industry as construction were unemployed, compared with 730,000 in June 2021.