Insight &amp; analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill. Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF. US hiring slowed sharply in June even as the unemployment rate fell, curbing some of the budding momentum in job growth this year. Nonfarm payrolls increased 57,000 last month after downward revisions to the prior two months took some of the shine off recent blockbuster reports, Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday showed. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% as labor force participation plunged. Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with: Bloomberg International Economics and Policy Correspondent Michael McKee. Republican Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman. Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis and Democratic Strategist Matt Robison. Democratic Congresswoman Suzan DelBene of Washington, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US Hiring Slows, Curbing Momentum

Balance of Power

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Balance of Power

## Transcript

A new chapter in global growth is being written, and much of it is happening in Africa. Africans need to invest. There are deals to be done and business to be won. I'm Jennifer Zabasaja. Every week on the Next Africa podcast, we track capital flows and political shifts shaping the continent's future. The digitalization of Africa is going to power its growth. Reading the world of something like HIV is possible. Population growth is so enormous in Africa. Listen to Next Africa on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon and 5 p.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. Checking out the markets on this Thursday that is helping us close out the trading week because

yes, of course, tomorrow is the holiday ahead of the July 4th holiday, which is on a Saturday this year, which is why we have the very unusual Thursday jobs report. We don't see that very often. But of course, it was today that we got the print due to the holiday and the print was weaker than most economists expected. I believe only one in the Bloomberg survey thought the print would be as low as it was at 57,000 jobs added in the country in the month of June and downward revisions, as we mentioned to the prior two months as well.

So it paints a picture of a labor market that perhaps is not as strong as the White House would like to sell it as though. Certainly we did hear the National Economic Council director, Kevin Hassett, saying that this is still a strong labor market. We're seeing when he spoke to our colleague Danny Berger earlier. I think this is a really strong, healthy job market and that this was a little bit on the other side of expectation. But the trend over three or four months is consistent with our view that, again, that we were growing about three percent and that we're going to have a better second half of the year as those

factories turn on the lights. Interesting that we want to spend some time on this with Michael McKee, Bloomberg's international economics and policy correspondent, with questions about why the number could be so far off. And in fact, if there is strength under the hood, as Kevin Hassett suggests, Mike, we're confounded by the numbers. BI, by the way, was far beyond the market consensus at 200,000. We saw the biggest decline in leisure and hospitality payrolls since 2020.

We saw the pullback in participation. What do you make of all this? Well, I think there are parts of this that are just going to get tossed out by economists. They're not going to really worry about it because they're so out of line that they have the characteristics of things that are just randomly statistically weird, and they'll probably snap back. And on...

US Hiring Slows, Curbing Momentum

Transcript

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US Hiring Slows, Curbing Momentum

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.