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Hiring slowed down some in the month of July, pushing the unemployment rate up a tick to 4.6%. The numbers released by the Labor Department this morning showed employers increased payrolls by 92,000 in July, the smallest increase since February. Government jobs had a steep and unexpected drop of 28,000.  Manufacturing jobs declined by 2,000 and construction jobs by 12,000. Some of the bright spots included education and professional business services, which grew by 39,000 and 26,000 respectively. Average hourly wages grew by 6 cents to $17.45, in line with expectations.

What does this slowing in job growth mean? The U.S. economy is certainly showing signs of weakness as has been predicted for a while now. These job numbers also put GDP forecasts into question for the second-half of this year. The employment report shows a very mixed picture for the economy, which if it stays this way could be ok for the equity market. The market does not want to see any more deterioration in the job growth, because a recession is certainly not a positive. The interesting part will be seeing if the slowing in job growth is a trend or an aberration. Stay tuned.