US labour market sheds jobs in July as labour force participation slumps

The United States labour market lost 23,000 jobs in July, with major declines across several sectors, including education, government and retail trade.On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest jobs report, which showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Trump administration refunds $100bn in tariffs struck down by Supreme Courtlist 2 of 4US ends cap on local TV station owners amid concerns of media consolidationlist 3 of 4New Mexico court orders Meta to pay $567m over harm to youthslist 4 of 4AI used to create viruses not found in nature for first timeend of listPart of that dip, however, was driven by a decline in labour force participation, the percentage of people working or actively looking for work.Labour force participation fell to 61.4 percent, its lowest level in five years. Excluding the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the labour force participation rate is at its lowest level in five decades.Some 264,000 people left the labour force, meaning they are no longer working or looking for work.The retail trade sector lost 19,000 jobs overall. Warehouse clubs and big-box ret...