Daily Times

Employers in the United States are thought to have kept up their brisk pace of hiring in June, reflecting the durability of the second-longest US economic expansion on record even in the face of a trade war with China.

Economists have estimated that 195,000 jobs were added last month and that the unemployment rate remained at an 18-year low of 3.8 percent, according to data provider FactSet. If, though, the unemployment rate reached 3.7 percent or less in June, it would mark its lowest level since December 1969, when it was 3.5 percent.

The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.

The broader US economy appears to be on sturdy ground. Economists are forecasting that economic growth accelerated to an annual pace of roughly 4 percent during the April-June quarter, about double the previous quarter’s pace.

Signs of economic strength have helped bolster hiring despite the difficulty many employers say they’re having in finding enough qualified workers to fill jobs.

Manufacturers and services firms have said in recent surveys that their business is improving despite anxiety about the tariff showdown between the United States and China. Housing starts have climbed 11 percent so far this year. Retail sales jumped a strong 0.8 percent in May in a sign that consumers feel secure enough to spend.

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th 2018.