National Economy Roars Back

U.S. businesses added 287,000 jobs in June, more than making up for the economy’s weak performance in May, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

That was well above the 175,000 jobs that were expected to be added to public and private-sector payrolls last month, according to a report that cited a survey of economists by Reuters, the European news agency.

The national unemployment rate rose slightly month-over-month, to 4.9 percent from 4.7 percent, but that uptick was being attributed to people trying to reenter the job market now that businesses are hiring again.

May’s job growth, originally announced at 38,000, was revised to 11,000, an anemic number and a sign that the economy might be slowing down, if not sliding back into recession. Today’s numbers ended those fears, at least temporarily.

“The economy added 287,000 jobs in June, a bounce-back from May’s low number and a clear indication that the economy continues to make solid progress,” said Jason Furman, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, in a statement.

But the economy was merely correcting itself after an unusually bad month, and neither the May nor the June data should be taken as a sign of where the economy is headed, said Jay Prag, professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.

“I think May was a fluke month, and I think June was a fluke correction of that month,” Prag said. “But the June numbers are very good. We’re adding an average of 180,000 jobs a month, which means we have a healthy economy.”