The US labor market continues to strengthen.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.9% and the economy added 157,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday.
But paychecks grew only slightly — up 2.7% compared to the same time last year.
"With inflation running at a roughly 2% rate, that means that there’s not a lot of financial wiggle room for many Americans," said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com’s senior economic analyst.
The labor market has accelerated as the economy expands. The economy grew at 4.1% during the second quarter, its fastest place in nearly four years.
The government revised the previous months’ job gains by an additional 59,000. With revisions, job gains have averaged 224,000 a month.
