
With Wall Street braced for the worst, the U.S. Labor Department had good news this morning. The U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.1 percent.
Coming the day after the Dow plunged more than 500 points, the better-than-expected jobs numbers offered some relief from the last two weeks of pessimistic reports about the economy. Stocks opened higher.
Estimates ahead of the report pegged job growth at around 90,000 during July, though some economists said the number could be as low as 55,000. The unemployment rate, which ticked up in June to 9.2 percent, was expected to be unchanged. ADP’s National Employment Report Wednesday, which is not often in sync with the government report, said 114,000 private sector jobs were added in July. The BLS put that number at a 154,000. Government job losses offset the private sector gains.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles and maintains labor data for the U.S., also revised upwards jobs numbers for May by 53,000 and June by 46,000.

















