The unemployment rate in the United States climbed slightly to roughly 4.3% in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The number of unemployed people rose by roughly 350,000 to a total of 7.2 million. That number has climbed consistently over the past few months. In May, the agency reported only 6.1 million unemployed people in the United States and reported 6.8 million people in June.

How is the job market slowing down? The bureau reported that employers hired roughly 270,000 in May. In June, that number dropped to roughly 200,000. In July, the number of new jobs fell to only 114,000.

What does that mean? The bureau’s report comes two days after the Federal Reserve decided to maintain its key interest rates at 5.25-5.5%, where they’ve been for the past year. The Fed acknowledged that unemployment was rising and that the job market was slowing down.

However, the central bank added that the economy was still expanding at a solid pace. Recent economic data was building the Fed’s confidence that rate cuts might be appropriate soon, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday.

This story originally appeared in WORLD. © 2024, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.