The much appreciated report announced by the Labor Department on Thursday on the employment growth for the month of June has revealed that a small but growing share of the jobs added are higher-paying jobs, which has been seen to be an encouraging sign and could eventually mean stronger income gains for consumers.
Many of the 288,000 jobs which were added last month are concentrated in low-wage industries, which has been consistent with payroll addition throughout the 5-year-old economic recovery. Retailers added 40,000 jobs in the month of June, and leisure and hospitality added 39,000 including 33,000 by restaurants and bars.
But architectural and engineering services added 7,200 jobs — the most in more than two years. Employers also added a healthy share of accountants, computer professionals and management consultants. Payrolls for financial, insurance and real estate firms jumped by 17,000, the most since March 2012.
Earnings increased just 2% over the past 12 months, in line with gains thus far in the recovery. The growth of higher-paying jobs, along with a tightening labor market, should lead to bigger pay increases in coming months, according to Swonk and Bob Baur, chief global economist of Principal Global Investors.