Summary: Almost 5,000 legal jobs were added last month.
On Friday the U.S. Labor Department released job growth data, and it was revealed that in June, there were 4,800 jobs added in the legal industry.
“The agency’s Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its monthly look at the employment situation in the United States, showing a rebound in the legal services sector after more tepid results in May. BLS reported that 1,141,400 people were employed in legal services in June, a figure that includes lawyers, paralegals, legal secretaries and other law-related professions. The jobs data released Friday is seasonally adjusted and provisional, meaning it could be revised later,” American Lawyer stated.
In June, the legal industry had more than 1.4 million employed, and the growth was one of the largest increases since December 2016.
The legal industry is known to have fluctuations of growth, but June had a remarkable change. For instance, in contrast, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the industry gained 300 jobs in May.
The United States economy is viewed generally as positive, and in June, the country saw 213,000 jobs added to the marketplace, outperforming expectations.
“Overall, the country’s unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percent to 4 percent, but BLS also reported that the number of discouraged workers—people who are out of work but aren’t looking for jobs because they don’t think anything’s available for them—decreased by 155,000 compared with June 2017,” American Lawyer said.
Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan in New York, told Reuters that the BLS report shows that the economy is getting better.
“Overall the report is good news insofar as it suggests the economy still has some capacity to grow at an above-trend pace without generating much inflationary pressure,” said Feroli. “Similarly, it should ease the concerns of the hawks (at the Fed) who worry that the Fed’s rate hike campaign is behind the curve.”
On Friday morning, President Donald Trump started a trade war with China by imposing tariffs on goods that Trump said stole American intellectual property. In turn, China put tit-for-tat tariffs on American goods such as pork and soybeans. Financial analysts worry that the trade war may slow hiring in fields such as agriculture and manufacturing.
“Wages could rise at a faster pace in the future as the economy is humming and the labor market is tight,” Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at SS Economics in Los Angeles, told Reuters. “However, the ongoing trade war with China and our allies could hurt investment spending and hold back job and wage gains.”
Trump has also imposed tariffs on aluminum and steel from Europe, Canada, and Mexico.
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