Doomsday watchers of the US economy did not get the depressing monthly jobs number they were perhaps hoping for. The country’s private sector businesses added 172,000 jobs in July, the most in five months, the US Labor Department reported this morning.
That is well above the forecast of 100,000 that most economists had predicted.
Manufacturing was one of the bright spots, adding 25,000 jobs.
Hiring also rose in professional and business services, and food services.
The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent with more people returning to the labor market. Governments across the country laid off 9,000 employees, leading to a net job gain overall of 163,000.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher on the news.
(Read more data from Forbes)