The U.S. added 147,000 jobs in June, which exceeded consensus estimates for 125,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%. And the prior two months’ growth numbers were revised up. All of that is good news.
However, a strong gain of 40,000 jobs in state and local education may be an outlier. It is June, after all, a month when schools are wrapping up for the summer break. The increase is likely due to seasonal adjustment factors, as government education payroll employment usually declines by around 270,00 in June, and this month only fell by 220,000.
Stripping