US job growth slows sharply in July amid a virus resurgence

Published Fri, Aug 7, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Washington

US EMPLOYMENT growth slowed considerably in July amid a resurgence in new Covid-19 infections, offering the clearest evidence yet that the economy's recovery from the recession caused by the pandemic was faltering.

Non-farm payrolls rose by 1.763 million jobs last month after a record 4.791 million in June, the Labor Department said on Friday. Economists had expected 1.6 million jobs to be created in July.

The unemployment rate fell to 10.2 per cent from 11.1 per cent in June, but it has been biased downward by people misclassifying themselves as being "employed but absent from wo…