The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release of July’s job report today revealed surprising numbers that shed some relief after a long week of trouble in the market and fears of recession. Economists had predicted that we would see about 85,000 jobs added for the month of July but today’s report came out with unexpected higher results. The U.S added 117,000 jobs compared to the 18,000 added in June. The results could have even been higher had they not been affected by a loss of 37,000 government jobs as a result of recent budget shortfalls.

Private employers ramped up their hiring the most based on the results from the BLS report. Business and professional services as well as retailers, hospitality and manufacturing all increased their hiring bringing the unemployment rate from 9.2 percent in June to 9.1 percent in July. Not only were more jobs added in these sectors but hourly wages also increased, bringing even more good news in the report. They rose up .4 percent, doubling what numbers were predicted previously. With July’s increase in jobs and hourly wage increase the report shows hope that these factors could help to put money back into the struggling economy by increasing consumer spending.

July’s job report comes out much better than expected and couldn’t have been released at a better time. After a rough week in the market and previous months of extremely low job reports the high number shows positive improvement for the future of the economy. Economists still say though that the number isn’t quite yet where it needs to be. More jobs need to continue to be added in order to keep up with the growing population, and many still fear that if the economy doesn’t improve soon that the U.S could ultimately fall back into a recession.