STORY: The U.S. job market remains strong... but is loosening up.
That's the takeaway from Friday's key nonfarm payrolls report from the Labor Department, which showed the economy added 206,000 jobs in June - about 16,000 more than economists had expected.
But the report also showed the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%, the highest in more than a 2-1/2-years, partly due to more people entering the workforce.
And wage gains moderated, signaling that inflation pressures continue to ease.
Financial markets now expect the Federal Reserve - which aggressively hiked rates to tame soaring prices - to start cutting those rates as soon as September.
Friday's report also showed that job growth for both April and May was revised downward.
The U.S. economy has added an average of about 220,000 jobs per month over the past year.
Economists say at least 150,000 jobs per month are needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
