Jobs report: U.S. labor market unexpectedly adds 528K jobs Yelitza R. checks safety restraints on a roller coaster at Lagoon in Farmington on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Growth in the leisure and hospitality sector helped boost national job growth in July. Ben B. Braun, Deseret News In spite of ongoing, record-high inflation and a U.S. economy that’s showing signs of slowing, a two-and-a-half year journey to recover 22 million jobs lost amid the unprecedented economic upheaval wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic is over. National job growth ballooned by 528,000 positions in July, far exceeding expectations and helping drive overall employment back to levels not seen since February 2020. A Friday report from the U.S. Labor Department found the job increases were widespread and led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care. Both total nonfarm employment and the unemployment rate, which dropped to 3.5% in July, have returned to their pre-pandemic levels, according to the new federal data. While inflation hit another 40-year high in June , with the prices of goods and services up an average 9.1% from a year ago, and the U.S.