U.S. employers added 112,000 workers to
payrolls in June, less than half the median forecast, and factory
employment fell for the first time in five months.
“Things have cooled off a bit,” said David Resler, chief
economist at Nomura Securities International inc. in New York.
The unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent, the Labor
Department said in Washington. Gains in the previous two months
were revised down by a total 35,000, to 235,000 in May and 324,000
in April, and the June increase was less than any of the 73
forecasters in a Bloomberg News survey predicted.
The creation of 1.3 million jobs so far this year, the
biggest six-month gain in four years, has yet to bolster President
George W. Bush’s job approval rating ahead of the November
election. Unexpectedly weak reports in the past two weeks on May
durable goods orders and June auto sales have prompted some
economists to lower second-quarter forecasts.
“The production side of the economy ended the quarter on a
weakening note, following evidence of deceleration in both
consumer and business spending,” said Peter Kretzmer, a senior
economist at Banc of America Securities Inc. in New York.
A slowdown may support Federal Reserve policy-makers’ view
that they need to raise interest rates at only a “measured” pace
to contain inflation.
Bloomberg News
