Unexpected! 131,000 More Jobless in July

The experts are baffled and the media does their best to spin the bad news. The headline says payrolls rose by 71,000 but overall employment fell by 131,000, so the headline is only misleading you by 202,000. No big deal.

Companies in the U.S. added workers in July for a seventh straight month at a pace that suggests the labor-market recovery will be slow to take hold.

Private payrolls that exclude government agencies rose by 71,000, less than forecast, after a gain of 31,000 in June that was smaller than previously reported, Labor Department figures in Washington showed today. Economists projected a 90,000 rise in private jobs, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Overall employment fell 131,000 and the jobless rate held at 9.5 percent.