U.S. unemployment rate rises 3.7% in June; wages inch up

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) on Friday revealed that total payroll employment increased in June, while the unemployment rate edged up to 3.7%, which did not reflect significant improvement in relations to economic growth.

The US economy added 224,000 jobs last June, with notable gains in professional and business services, health care, and transportation & warehousing.

Professional and business services providers created new 51,000 jobs, while job gains in the health care segment amounted to 35,000 jobs month-on-month. The construction sector saw a gain of over 21,000 jobs last month.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls stabilised at 34.4 hours during June.

Meanwhile, the average wage paid to US workers inched up $0.06 to $27.9, with the year-on-year rate of hourly wage gains increased by 3.1%.

By 03:57 pm GMT, the US dollar index went up 0.53% to 97.28.