After three straight months of disappointing employment figures, the economy finally looked a bit brighter in July, adding 163,000 new jobs, according to figures released this morning by the Labor Department. The private sector accounted for all of the growth, with 172,000 new jobs reported for private employers, while the public sector shrank by 9,000 jobs.
Still, the unemployment rate ticked upward, to 8.3 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles the new jobs figure from its survey of businesses, while the overall unemployment rate is compiled from a survey of households. Generally, the two track together closely, but there are occasional times when they diverge. One reason they may have diverged in July was that the number of people seeking work, according to the household survey, grew by 45,000.
July's relatively strong numbers boost the overall average monthly job growth to 151,000 for 2012. For all of 2011, the growth rate was about the same, at 153,000 jobs added per month. So we may be looking at 150,000 new jobs per month as the "new normal."
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