This morning's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the U.S. economy created 215,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate held steady at 5.3 percent. That was a bit below economists' expectations, as they'd anticipated a 225,000 jobs gain. The monthly average over the past year has been 244,583, which is enough to increase overall employment even when population growth is factored in.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.