Hiring rose in July despite fears over Covid-19’s delta variant and as companies struggled with a tight labor supply, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 943,000 for the month while the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%, according to the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 845,000 new jobs and a headline jobless rate of 5.7%.
Average hourly earnings also increased more than expected, rising 0.4% for the month.
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