The Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday its monthly jobs report, which showed major gains compared with the last few reports, despite the unemployment rate rising slightly.
According to the BLS, employers added 163,000 jobs in July, marking the best month for hiring in five months and a far cry from the revised estimate for June, which came in at a meager 64,000 jobs. Still, the unemployment rate rose slightly, from 8.2 percent in June to 8.3 percent in July.
President Barack Obama spoke shortly after the figures were released, saying that the increase contributes to the 4.5 million jobs that have been created in the last 29 months, and that although it is good that "our neighbors and family members [are] finding new work," there are still "too many folks out there looking for work."
The report found that employment in the professional and business services industry, which includes temporary staffing work, saw some of the highest gains, with 49,000 new jobs added last month. Among those jobs, computer systems design added 7,00 jobs, while employment specifically in the temporary help services industry continued its upward trend, adding 14,000 new jobs.
The leisure and hospitality industry, which has been highly volatile in recent months, showed much stronger hiring, with employment in food services and drinking places rising by 29,000 on the month. In the last 12 months, the sector has added 292,000 new jobs.
The manufacturing sector, which has been a leader in job creation in recent months, added 25,000 jobs in July, nearly all of which were in durable goods manufacturing. Motor vehicle manufacturing companies reported fewer seasonal layoffs than normally noted in July, which helped the sector raise its employment by 13,000.
White House economist Alan Krueger stated that the new data is a promising step forward.
"While there is more work that remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression," he said.
According to the report, 12.8 million people are still unemployed around the country.