The U.S. added over 800,000 jobs in June. Biden's economic advisers caution against reading too much into it.

The U.S. added 850,000 jobs in June, "far surpassing expectations" and putting the country on pace to reach pre-pandemic levels of health by "the end of 2022," per The Wall Street Journal and the Economic Policy Institute. Average growth over the last three months came in at 567,000, and unemployment changed little, up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent.
Friday's jobs report appears a "promising sign that the recovery continues on track," after job growth fell short of expectations earlier this spring, writes the Journal. The labor market remains "more than seven million jobs short of where it stood just ahead of the pandemic," but, according to the EPI, June's report reveals "no indication of labor shortage."
The Council of Economic Advisers warned on Tuesday, however, to not put "too much weight" on Friday's number. In a blog post, the CEA suggests that job growth remains "more volatile than before the pandemic," meaning "a single month's jobs report" and its positive or negative implications may not paint as full a picture of U.S. economic health as desired. "Now more than ever," the CEA writes, "it is essential to look at trends and a wide range of indicators rather than data from any single month or source."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As economist Paul Krugman noted on Thursday, "It's a paradox that the pandemic has created an unprecedented demand for high-frequency economic information — and degraded the quality of that information."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
How is Chili's saving casual dining? Could others follow?
Today's Big Question Value and TikTok virality bring in the diners
-
NASA is abandoning the climate
The Explainer Climate missions could be going dark
-
Every MCU movie since 'Avengers: Endgame,' ranked
The Week Recommends How did the recent 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' stack up?
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages