WASHINGTON — Data released on Friday showed a return to strong job growth in the United States, allaying some fears the US economy is on a short path to recession. But the data also reinforced the view that economic growth is slowing. Here are five takeaways from a report by the US Labor Department on US employment during June. SLOWING GROWTH Every month the Labor Department surveys payrolls in the private sector to calculate how many hours employees across the nation worked. Seen as a proxy for economic growth, this index of the national work effort grew 0.2% in June, a rate near the muted gains clocked in recent months. That suggests the US economy, which grew at a 3.1% annual rate in the first quarter of this year, could be cooling. COOLER WAGE GROWTH? Growth in private sector average hourly earnings accelerated throughout 2018 and through February of this year, when year-over-year growth hit the strongest rate since 2009 at 3.4%. June's growth rate, however, was a more modest 3.1%. It is probably too early to tell if there has been a break in the upward trend. WAGE LAGGARDS The manufacturing sector added 17,000 jobs in June after several months of weak growth or outright decline. Wage growth in the factory sector, however, has underperformed the national average. Wage growth has also been lower in the education and health jobs category tracked by the Labor Department. LABOR FORCE INCREASE A bright spot for the US economy over the last few years has been the increase in the share of the population that either has a job or is looking for one. This so-called labor force participation rate ticked slightly higher in June, both for a key demographic of people of prime working age and for the general population. But the rate for prime-age workers has been mostly falling since January. This suggests the economy might be running lower on its supply of people available to work, which could depress future job growth. WOMEN LEAD In June, the participation rate fell for men of prime working age, while it rose for women. This is in line with the trend over the last few years. Indeed, the share of men who have jobs or are looking for one was slightly lower in June than it was in January 2017. — Reuters
