WASHINGTON (AP) – The jobs report for July that the government will release Friday is expected to show another month of solid gains, matching the steady hiring that has propelled the U.S. economic expansion.
The report will also provide a key piece of evidence for the Federal Reserve to weigh in deciding whether the U.S. economy is ready for it to raise interest rates from record lows as soon as September.
Economists have forecast that employers added 225,000 jobs in July and that the unemployment rate remained at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent, according to a survey by FactSet. The job growth would roughly match June’s 223,000 gain and the healthy monthly average of 244,583 over the past year.
The government will issue the July jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
Another hiring gain above 200,000 would likely nudge the Fed closer to its first rate hike in nearly a decade. The Fed has held its key short-term rate near zero since late 2008, a policy introduced after the financial crisis to try to energize the economy through stronger borrowing, investing and spending. Now, more than a half-dozen years into the recovery, Fed Chair Janet Yellen has suggested that the economy not only can tolerate but needs higher rates.