Workspan Daily News Bytes for Aug. 7, 2026

BLS Report Shows Loss of 23,000 Jobs in July

Total American nonfarm payroll employment lost 23,000 jobs in July, following an average monthly gain of 34,000 over the prior 12 months, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1%, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reportedOpen in a new tab on Friday, Aug. 7.

Looking at July’s unemployment data:

The number of unemployed Americans, at 6.9 million, changed little from the prior month.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates also showed little or no change for adult men (3.9%), adult women (3.7%), teenagers (12.1%), and people who are white (3.6%), Black (6.3%), Asian (4.0%) or Hispanic (4.6%).
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.8 million. The long-term unemployed accounted for 25.5% of all unemployed people last month.

Looking at July job gains by industry sector:

Employment in local government education declined by 50,000 in July, after showing little net change over the prior 12 months.
Retail trade lost 19,000 jobs in July. Employment declined in warehouse clubs, supercenters, and other general merchandise retailers (-21,000) and in gasoline stations and fuel dealers (-5,000). Sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book and miscellaneous retailers added 10,000 jobs. Retail trade employment had shown little net change over the prior 12 months.
Employment in financial activities continued to trend down in July (-14,000), reflecting losses in credit intermediation and related activities (-9,000) and insurance carriers and related activities (-7,000). Financial activities employment is down by 121,000 since a recent peak in May 2025.
Employment in healthcare continued its upward trend (+22,000) but at a slower pace than the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+36,000). Employment in ambulatory healthcare services continued to trend up over the month (+18,000).

Looking at July’s wage-and-hour data:

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $37.62, were little changed (+2 cents). Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.2 percent. In July, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, at $32.40, were little changed (+4 cents).
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.3 hours in July. In manufacturing, the average workweek was also unchanged at 40.4 hours, and overtime edged down by 0.1 hour to 3.1 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours.

U.S. Private Sector Added 44,000 Jobs in July; Pay Gains Held at 4.4%

U.S. private-sector employment increased by 44,000 jobs in July and pay was up 4.4% year-over-year, according to the ADP National Employment Report, released Wednesday, Aug. 5. The payroll processing firm stated the jobs figure is a bit below the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 75,000.

The report showed sector-level hiring was choppy last month. Virtually all of the job gains came from healthcare-related sectors, with goods-producing industries seeing a net loss.

Among the goods-producing industries:

Manufacturing, +2,000
Construction, +1,000
Natural resources/mining, -6,000

In the service-providing industries:

Education/health services, +36,000
Financial activities, +10,000
Other services, +6,000
Information, +5,000
Professional/business services, +9,000
Leisure/hospitality, -11,000
Trade/transportation/utilities, -8,000

For compensation, year-over-year pay growth for job-stayers held steady at 4.4%. For job-changers, year-over-year pay growth accelerated to 7%, its fastest pace of growth in nearly a year.

“Job-changers are highly sensitive to real-time economic conditions, and their rapid pay growth implies supply constraints in parts of the labor market,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “Typical hiring patterns, meanwhile, are changing as employers react to shifting macro-economic conditions.”

American Job Openings Declined in June

The number of U.S. job openings dropped to 7.4 million in June, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released Tuesday, Aug. 4, by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among the survey’s key findings:

The number of job openings increased in transportation, warehousing and utilities (+97,000), and in federal government (+39,000).
Job openings decreased in wholesale trade (-74,000), nondurable goods manufacturing (-55,000), and mining and logging (-9,000).
The number of hires was unchanged at 5.3 million, while the rate changed little at 3.4% in June. Hires decreased in federal government (-6,000).
The number and rate of layoffs and discharges were unchanged at 1.8 million and 1.1 percent, respectively, in June. Layoffs and discharges changed little in all industries.
The number of other separations also changed little at 353,000 in June.

HR Leaders Most Skeptical of AI Workforce Readiness

While nearly 80% of global executives expect artificial intelligence (AI) to improve bottom-line performance and drive top-line revenue growth in the next three years, only 13% of chief human resource officers (CHROs) strongly agree that their organization’s job designs are AI-ready. That’s according to an AI Pulse Survey by consulting firm Protiviti.

Despite AI’s rapid advancement, the research also found that only 5% of the surveyed CHROs expect at least half of HR work to be AI-enabled within the next three years, due to their perceived complexities of scaling AI in HR functions.

Compared with 36% overall across the C-suite respondents, just 14% of CHROs strongly agreed that their organizations’ learning capabilities were AI-ready. By comparison, IT leaders were the most confident group, with 96% positive on learning readiness and 88% positive on role design readiness.

About 60% of CHROs expected less than 25% of HR work to be AI-enabled within three years, even though more than 80% of HR activities are well suited for automation. By comparison, 88% of respondents expected more than 25% of IT work to be AI-enabled within three years, compared with 57% today.

“AI transformation is ultimately a workforce transformation,” said Fran Maxwell, the global leader of people and change at Protiviti. “Technology alone won’t determine which organizations succeed. Capturing AI’s full value will depend on leaders treating workforce transformation as a strategic priority alongside technology transformation. That starts with HR playing a leading role in shaping the roles, skills and organizational changes required to turn AI investments into business value.”

Report Reveals the Most Wanted Professionals in Europe

Technical laborers are the most sought-after professional group in Europe, with 731,953 vacancies, according to employment and hiring data analyzed by trading platform BestBrokers.com.

Other in-demand professions included:

Office associate professionals (630,033 job vacancies)
Metal and machinery workers (596,701)
Machine and plant operators (522,808)
Drivers and vehicle operators (519,386)
Science and engineering technicians (486,210)
Sales workers (483,890)
Office professionals (456,172)
Researchers and engineers (418,078)
Personal service workers (398,391)

Among the report’s key findings:

Germany was Europe’s largest recruiter of technical laborers, with employers advertising 239,039 vacancies in the occupation, more than any other country. But the shortage stretched across the continent’s industrial core: France followed with 153,488 vacancies, while Austria (34,881), Czechia (8,954) and Romania (4,427) also ranked among the countries where technical laborers are the most sought-after professionals.
Healthcare shortages were particularly visible in Northern Europe. Health and care professionals ranked as the most sought-after occupation in Switzerland (15,554 vacancies), Norway (9,145), Sweden (24,624) and Liechtenstein (58).
Europe’s tourism-driven economies were among those with the strongest demand for personal service workers. The occupation ranked first in Spain (8,642 vacancies), Portugal (1,483) and Malta (1,446), while also leading hiring demand in Denmark, Slovakia, Hungary and Iceland.
Education was also a matter of concern in certain countries. Teaching professionals topped the vacancy rankings in Poland, Bulgaria, and Estonia.
Agriculture had some of the lowest recruitment demand across Europe. Forest and fishery workers (1,294 vacancies) and subsistence farmworkers (10 vacancies) ranked at the bottom of the continent’s hiring needs.
Executive talent was relatively scarce in recruitment demand. Europe advertised 54,551 vacancies for CEOs, officials and legislators, over 13 times fewer than for technical laborers.

“The challenge facing Europe is not simply creating new jobs, but ensuring there are enough people with the right skills to sustain the economies, services and industries that already exist,” said Alan Goldberg, the company’s lead data analyst. “As artificial intelligence reshapes certain roles, the most valuable workers may not only be those who design the future, but also those who maintain the foundations on which that future is built.”

Figures and Facts of the Week

104 million: The U.S. dollar amount New York City delivery workers have made in additional tips since the city began enforcing new tipping protections in January.
89: The percentage of employers in the U.S. who now require at least three days of office attendance per week, up from 78% in 2025, according to an Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey by real estate services and investment firm CBRE.
79: The percentage of American Generation Z workers who said taking short breaks makes their workday more enjoyable, according to a survey by soda brand Slice. Seventy-five percent of respondents said those breaks help them perform better at work.
68: The employment rate percentage for immigrants in the European Union (EU) in 2025, the highest level in nearly a decade, according to a new study from the Center for Research and Analysis of Migration, part of RFBerlin.
61: The percentage of retirement plans that have adopted automatic enrollment, according to the annual How America Saves report by Vanguard University.
53: The percentage of U.S. hiring managers who have noticed an increase in applicants over age 50, according to a 2026 Hiring Trends Report by career website Resume Genuis.

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