The US economy has now regained all jobs lost during the pandemic, after a blowout July jobs report that showed a gain of 528,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The massive monthly gain was more than double the 250,000 that economists were expecting, according to Refinitiv.

The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% after holding at 3.6% for the past four months. The July jobless rate matched the half-century low last seen in February 2020.

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Friday's employment snapshot marks the 19th consecutive month of job growth and is the highest monthly gain since the economy added 714,000 jobs in February. July's job totals outpace the average monthly gain of 388,000 jobs of the past four months, BLS data shows.

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President Joe Biden on Friday hailed the July report and took a victory lap by crediting his economic policies for the gains.

"It's the result of my economic plan to build the economy from the bottom up and middle out," he said in a statement. "I ran for president to rebuild the middle class -- there's more work to do, but today's jobs report shows we are making significant progress for working families."

The US economy has now regained all jobs lost during the pandemic, after a blowout July jobs report that showed a gain of 528,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The massive monthly gain was more than double the 250,000 that economists were expecting, according to Refinitiv.

The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% after holding at 3.6% for the past four months. The July jobless rate matched the half-century low last seen in February 2020.

*

Friday's employment snapshot marks the 19th consecutive month of job growth and is the highest monthly gain since the economy added 714,000 jobs in February. July's job totals outpace the average monthly gain of 388,000 jobs of the past four months, BLS data shows.

*

President Joe Biden on Friday hailed the July report and took a victory lap by crediting his economic policies for the gains.

"It's the result of my economic plan to build the economy from the bottom up and middle out," he said in a statement. "I ran for president to rebuild the middle class -- there's more work to do, but today's jobs report shows we are making significant progress for working families."