The jobs report was better than expected.  Construction jobs, which we have been monitoring, are still lagging, especially among specialty trade contractors, losing 12K jobs this month. Education and healthcare jobs rebounded to 38k up from last month’s lower than average 2K jobs.  Administrative and support services created 27K jobs.  Restaurants and bars, or as the government calls ’em, “drinking places”,  hired 29K workers.

The upshot?  Not exactly a jobs report — more secretary and bartender jobs — that will lead us to BoomTown,  but decent job creation and surely better than the alternative.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 163,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in professional and business services, food services and drinking places, and manufacturing.

(click here if charts are not observable)