US July Nonfarm Payrolls Fall by 23,000, Far Below Forecast

US employment data for July came in far below market expectations.

The Labor Department said on August 7 that nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 from the previous month in July. That was 108,000 below the market forecast of an 85,000 increase. It was also 43,000 lower than the revised June figure of 20,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in July, 0.1 percentage point below economists' forecast of 4.2%. It was also down 0.1 percentage point from 4.2% in June.

Average hourly earnings rose 3.2% in July from a year earlier, missing the 3.5% forecast by 0.3 percentage point.

On a month-over-month basis, average hourly earnings rose 0.1%, 0.2 percentage point below the 0.3% forecast.

Average hourly earnings are a gauge of wage inflation.