U.S. Payrolls Shed More than Expected, Dropping 131,000 in July

Total non-farm payrolls declined by 131,000 in July, worse than a market consensus decline of 70,000. According to the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the firings of temporary workers after 2010 Census efforts edged up to 143,000 in July, declined from 225,000 Census layoffs a month earlier. The Automatic Data Processing (ADP) had estimated that nonfarm private sector employers added an estimated 42,000 jobs in July. TrimTabs Investment Research estimated official numbers would show the economy shed at least 5,000 jobs. Capital Economics, on  the other hand, expected decline of 75,000 in all of July. The Census job eliminations continued to weigh, as expected, on weak private-sector job growth. Private-sector payrolls added 71,000 workers in July, less than the consensus of 100,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.5%, better than an consensus 10 basis point increase to 9.6% The broader U-6 measure of both un- and under-employment rose to 16.8%, from 16.7% a month earlier, and is back to its year-ago level. Write to Diana Golobay.