US hiring surges in July, but the variant is the wild card

By PAUL WISEMAN
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring surged in July as American employers added 943,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%  as the U.S. economy continues to bounce back with surprising vigor from last year’s coronavirus shutdown. The July numbers exceeded economists’ forecast for more than 860,000 new jobs. Hotels and restaurants, reopening and doing brisk business, added 327,000 jobs last month. The number of people who reported they had jobs surged by 1 million, pushing the jobless rate down from 5.9% in June. The economy and job market, however, face a growing threat from the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.