U.S. Employment Jumps By 222,000 Jobs In June, Much More Than Expected

Employment in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of June, according to a closely watched report released by the Labor Department on Friday.

The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 222,000 jobs in June following an upwardly revised increase of 152,000 jobs in May.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 179,000 jobs compared to the addition of 138,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected increase in employment reflected sold job growth in the healthcare and social assistance, leisure and hospitality and professional and business services sectors.

The Labor Department also said government employment climbed by 35,000 jobs in June after dipping by 7,000 jobs in May.

Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate inched up to 4.4 percent in June from 4.3 percent in May. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to hold steady.

With the modest increase, the unemployment rate crept up off the sixteen-year low set in the previous month.

The uptick in the unemployment rate came as the labor force jumped by 361,000 people, more than offsetting the increase of 245,000 people in the household survey of employment.

The Labor Department also said average hourly employee earnings rose by 0.2 percent to $26.25. Average hourly earnings in June were up by 2.5 percent year-over-year.

"This was a strong jobs report, with a better-than-expected payroll rise augmented by a solid upward revision," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.

He added, "Still, it should not add to the already considerable fire under the FOMC because wage pressures are nowhere to be seen, and labor slack relaxed unexpectedly."

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to make its next decision on interest rates following a two-day meeting later this month.