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US hiring tops expectations with 1.8M added despite new coronavirus shutdowns

  • U.S. economy added 1.8M jobs in July
    unemployment at 10.2% U.S. economy added 1.8M jobs in July

The U.S. economy added nearly 2 million jobs during July, the Labor Department said in its monthly report Friday.

The widely-anticipated assessment said 1.8 million payrolls were added for the month. The unemployment rate declined to 10.2%, it added.

"In July, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services and healthcare," the report states.

The assessment showed that the number of unemployed persons in the United States fell by 1.4 million last month.

Most economists expected an addition of about 1.5 million. The range varied, but most analysts agreed in their projections that the pace of hiring would slow in July.

July's figure is well below the 7.5 million positions added in June and May, when the economy was showing signs of a solid rebound from the initial stages of the pandemic. The May report was a surprise, announcing 2.5 million jobs when analysts were expecting a loss of about 2.5 million.

A resurgence of cases in the United States has stifled the recovery in recent weeks,  however, and some states and cities have answered by scaling back plans to reopen their economies.