Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 372,000 in June, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care. 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. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see ... (full story)

With even permabull economists conceding that the US economy is slowing rapidly and today's payrolls report will show a big decline, moments ago the BLS confirmed yet again that the monthly payrolls number is nothing but a politically mandated homework assignment, when - at a time when US GDP is set to decline for two quarters in a row - it reported that in June US payrolls rose by 372K, smashing expectations of 268K, coming well above the whisper number of 245K, and trouncing Goldman's preferred payrolls range of 175-250K. Today's number was not only the 3rd consecutive beat to expectations, but the biggest beat ... (full story)