The Labor Department numbers released Friday also showed that the private sector hired only 31,000 workers in June, revised down from 83,000. May’s numbers were raised slightly to show 51,000 net new jobs, up from 33,000.
“We’ve definitely seen a one, two month ”” in some cases three month ”” drop in the economic data,” Brian Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust in Chicago, told NPR.
Wesbury said that while the numbers are disappointing, he doesn’t think the nation is heading toward a double-dip recession. “There are other pieces [of data] that have begun to turn,” he said.
Standard & Poor’s chief economist David Wyss agreed. “I think we’re seeing a half-speed recovery,” he told NPR.