‘The eye of the hurricane’: Why the U.S. job market has soured, economists say

The U.S. job market has been showing signs of a gradual weakening. But new federal data issued Friday suggests it may have hit a long-awaited wall.

“We’re finally in the eye of the hurricane,” Daniel Zhao, chief economist at career site Glassdoor, wrote in a note.

“After months of warning signs, the July jobs report confirms that the slowdown isn’t just approaching — it’s here,” he wrote.

Employers added just 73,000 jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That tally is less than expected.

Economists generally think the U.S. economy needs to add roughly 80,000 to 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with population growth, said Laura Ullrich, director of economic research for North America at job site Indeed.