U.S. Unemployment Rate Drops to 5.3%

The United States labor market put in a tepid performance in June, with the addition of only 223,000 jobs, according to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday.

That was short of analysts’ exceptions, which put estimates for June job growth in the 225,000 to 230,000 territory.

According to the household survey, unemployment declined to a seven-year low of 5.3% in June, after inching up to 5.5% in May.

Though the jobs report’s top line numbers were not too bad, a closely-watched sub-indicator didn’t show such good news: hourly wages remained flat in June. That stagnation could delay a long-awaited hike in interest rates. After the May jobs report showed that wages had increased by 8 cents per hour, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said at a press conference June 17 that “wage increases are still running at a low level, but there have been some tentative signs that wage growth is picking up.”

Thursday’s report—released a day early because of the observation of the July 4th holiday on Friday—also showed that labor force participation dipped by 432,000 or 0.3% in June after an increase of similar size in May. The share of Americans participating in the labor market fell back from 62.9% in May to 62.6%–its lowest since 1977.

The number of long-term unemployed who’ve been without a job for 27 weeks or more declined by 381,000 to 2.1 million in June. Over the past 12 months that figure—which currently makes up 25.8% of the unemployed—has decreased by nearly 1 million.