US labor market adds 73,000 jobs in July while May, June reports see 'larger than normal' downward revisions

The latest monthly jobs report showed the US labor market added fewer jobs than expected in July while the unemployment rate moved higher, and revisions to prior months' numbers revealed significantly fewer jobs had been added than initially thought.

The US economy added 73,000 nonfarm payrolls in July, less than the 104,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate moved up to 4.2% from 4.1% the month prior, in line with economists' expectations.

"The July jobs report was much weaker than expected and raises the odds of a Fed rate cut in September," Oxford Economics lead economist Nancy Vanden Houten wrote in a note to clients. "The increase in nonfarm payrolls in July was softer than anticipated but the real story was the revisions that wiped out nearly all the job gains in May and June."

US payrolls revisions jolt markets​

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 73,000 jobs in July after rising by a downwardly revised 14,000 in June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its employment report on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls increasing by 110,000 jobs after rising by a previously reported 147,000 in June.