WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in June, while the jobless rate held steady at 3.6%, a testament to the strength of the labor market and could prompt the US Federal Reserve to raise rates by 75 basis points this month, official statistics showed on Friday.
The Labor Department reported 372,000 non-farm payrolls last month, while economists polled by Reuters had expected an average figure of 268,000.
The number of jobs created in May was revised slightly downwards to 384,000 against 390,000 initially announced.
The unemployment rate, calculated on the basis of a separate survey, stood at 3.6% in June, the same as the previous month, a figure in line with the consensus.
The Labor Department report shows average hourly wages rose 0.3% last month after rising 0.4% (revised) in May. Over one year, the average wage saw its rise slow slightly in June, to 5.1%, after 5.3% (revised) the previous month.
The consensus for the average hourly wage gave an increase of 0.3% over one month and 5.0% over one year.
On the stock market, futures contracts on the main Wall Street indices, expected to decline at the opening, accentuated their decline after the publication of these statistics.
(Report Lucia Mutikani; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)