"U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in June, the lowest number since 2020, but still a sign that the Federal Reserve will continue on its rate-tightening cycle this year and perhaps into early 2024.

The unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%. Growth in April and May were revised marginally lower to 217,000 and 306,000, respectively.

Still, it may present a conundrum for policymakers who continue to wrestle with consumer inflation of 4%, twice the Fed's preferred level. Plus, pay continues to climb, another inflationary headwind.

Wages Jump 
Average Hourly Earnings: +4.4% to $33.58

Inside Hiring

Private Education: +73,000

Government: +60,000

Healthcare: +41,000

Construction: +23,000

Professional Services: +21,000

Manufacturing: +7,000

Retail: -11,200

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Whites declined to 3.1% in June. Black unemployment rate rose to the highest since Aug 2022.

Here is a breakdown of the jobless rates:

Adult men (3.4%)

Adult women (3.1%)

Teenagers (11.0%)

Blacks (6.0%),

Asians (3.2%)

Hispanics (4.3%) showed little change over the month.

Ninety-two percent of market participants still anticipate a 25-basis-point rate hike this month, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. That compares to just 7.6% of traders who expect the Fed to hold rates steady at the current range of 5% to 5.25%. Policymakers will meet on July 26.

The minutes from the last meeting, released earlier this week, showed nearly all Fed officials supported additional interest rate hikes amid signs of sticky core inflation.

A separate report released Thursday showed that job openings dipped to 9.8 million at the end of May. While that marks a decline from the previous month, it remains abnormally high.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, the highest on record was 7.6 million. There are still roughly 1.6 jobs per unemployed American."