U.S. unemployment rate falls to 7.4%

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. economy added 162,000 new jobs in July, the U.S. Labor Department said, according to BBC News.

The figure - which measures the number of jobs outside the U.S. farming sector - was below economists' expectations of more than 180,000 and the government also cut its previous estimates for hiring in May and June.

Nonetheless, the new jobs helped the unemployment rate to fall to 7.4%. That was down from 7.6% and is the lowest jobless rate in four years.

The news adds to the picture of a slowly growing U.S. economy and may make its central bank more likely to end its monetary stimulus program.

The Federal Reserve is currently buying $85bn a month in bonds which helps to keep borrowing costs low. However, there is much speculation as to when the Fed will start to rein in this stimulus program, the BBC says.

Its chairman, Ben Bernanke, stated that it might start cutting down the rate of bond buying by the end of the year and stop altogether by the middle of 2014, depending on the strength of the economy.

Earlier this week, figures showed that the U.S. economy grew at a faster-than-expected annualized pace of 1.7% in the second quarter of the year. That was up from the growth rate for the first three months of 2013, which was revised lower to 1.1% from 1.8%.

Other figures released on Friday confirmed the picture of moderate economic growth.

U.S. consumer spending and inflation both rose in June, with the U.S. Commerce Department saying spending was 0.5% higher and annual inflation running at 1.3% - although that is still well below the U.S. target of 2%.