The strong employment figures released Friday keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage point at its meeting later this month to cool high inflation.
Employers added 372,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% for the fourth month in a row. Average hourly wages rose 0.3% from May, a step down from higher levels earlier this year that—if sustained—could make Fed officials slightly less anxious about an overheating labor market.
