2018.08.0308:41:00UTC+00U.S. Employment Climbs Less Than Expected In July

Partly reflecting a drop in government employment and the closing of Toys "R" Us stores, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing much weaker than expected U.S. job growth in the month of July.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 157,000 jobs in July after spiking by an upwardly revised 248,000 jobs in June.

Economists had expected employment to increase by about 190,000 jobs compared to the jump of 213,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Despite the weaker than expected job growth, the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent in July from 4.0 percent in June, matching estimates.