BLS jobs report, missed: 209k vs 225k expected

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 209,000 in June, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Employment continued to trend up in government, health care, social assistance, and construction.

This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics.

The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry.

Both the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 6.0 million, changed little in June. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.4 percent to 3.7 percent since March 2022.

Learn more how BLS conducts their surveys here.

Stock index futures were initially up when the BLS report came out, came back down, and back up (whipsaw in both directions).

Still too early to call how the market will react to the jobs report today; considering the market reacted negatively with yesterday's ADP blowout report which seemed like an over heated economy would force FOMC to raise rates more, but with this report missing expectations, FOMC might keep their scheduled rate increases or even reduce them.

edit: BLS report link