New statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have revealed that unemployment in the country declined by 3.5% as over 500,000 new jobs were created in July despite the massive job loss recorded in the crypto industry during the period.
According to the data, the employment and unemployment rate in the country has returned to the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020.
Analysts had predicted that the country was going to add roughly 258,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate would be around 3.6%. However, the new stats showed that the market performed better than expected.
Average hourly earnings also grew by 0.5% in July and by over 5% year-on-year. Dow Jones had predicted that the earnings would only grow by 0.3% monthly and by 4.9% yearly.
Employers have been forced to raise wages for new hires and existing workers as the country battles inflation.
The Feds had raised the interest by 0.75 basis point in July to combat the 40-years high inflation recorded in June.
The fall of the country’s unemployment figure to the pre-pandemic rate is not the only unexpected positive development in the country’s economy.
The country’s Labor Force Participation, which measures the percentage of the total number of people in the labor force, also beat predictions of analysts.
In July, the LFP came in at 62.1%, a slightly lower figure when compared with the 62.2 percent recorded in June.
Unemployment Rate Reduces Despite Crypto Layoffs
Meanwhile, the fall in the unemployment rate in the US represents a direct contrast to developments in the cryptocurrency industry.
The crypto space is still trying to recover from a market meltdown that lasted for weeks and led to the loss of billions. Several crypto companies resorted to laying off workers to enable them to stay above water during this period.
According to an analysis by Crunchbase, at the end of July, at least 32,000 workers in the tech industry in the US alone have been sacked by various companies as part of efforts to reduce workforce size.
In July alone, CoinFlex, a crypto exchange, sacked 50 – 60% of its staff, Blockchain.com reduced its workforce by 25%, and Foremost NFT platform, OpenSea laid off 20% of its staff.