On The Money: Economy adds robust 850K jobs in June | Five takeaways from the employment report

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THE BIG DEAL—Economy adds robust 850K jobs in June, exceeding expectations: The U.S. added 850,000 jobs in June, exceeding expectations as rising demand for a wide range of services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic fueled the labor market, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.

• The unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 5.9 percent, according to the report, but the monthly haul far exceeded the projections of economists, who expected the U.S. to gain roughly 700,000 jobs last month.
• The labor force participation rate stayed roughly even at 61.6 percent, a sign that many Americans are still unable to return to the workforce. 
• There were also 6.4 million Americans who did not seek a job in June — and therefore not counted as unemployed — but want to work, up from 5 million before the pandemic.

Even so, strong job gains in sectors hit hard by the pandemic and a sharp drop in the number of Americans working part-time when they’d prefer to work full time pointed toward an accelerating rebound from COVID-19.

I break it down here.

The big takeaways: 

• The leisure and hospitality industry led the June jobs haul with a gain of 343,000, a promising sign for a sector devastated by the pandemic. Restaurants and bars added 194,000 of those jobs, followed by hotels with 75,000 and arts, entertainment and recreation with 74,000 new jobs.
• June saw a substantial decrease in the amount of people who were kept from full-time work for reasons related to COVID-19, including health concerns and childcare responsibilities.
• While one jobs report won’t be enough to cement Biden’s agenda, it could prove useful in ongoing negotiations over infrastructure spending, the debt ceiling and other areas where Republicans are eager to seize on signs of a slowing recovery.

Read more: 

• Five takeaways from the June jobs report
• Biden hails jobs numbers, gets testy with questions

GOOD TO KNOW

• A former chief executive for Wells Fargo’s European investment bank criticized the lender’s other executives, claiming they acted like “a mafia” and were not addressing regulatory concerns, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The trade deficit rose to more than $70 billion in May amid a surge in imported goods and materials. 
• These cities and states just raised their minimum wage
• Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Thursday pledged that the United States will continue to operate as normal, waving off Chinese President Xi Jinping’s warning to his country’s adversaries.
• The International Monetary Fund raised its projection for U.S. growth in 2021 to seven percent amid recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

ODDS AND ENDS

• The Federal Trade Commission announced on Friday it is charging chip supplier Broadcom with monopolizing the market.
• The Department of Transportation is expected to put out a proposal that would require airlines to refund passengers for checked baggage fees if an airline doesn’t deliver the bags to passengers soon enough, The Associated Press reported.