Federal government figures show that the United States added 1.7 million jobs in July, and while this sum was higher than expected, it still stands as a stark sign that the nascent economic recovery may be in trouble, as it is noticeably smaller than 4.7 million gain made in June, according to MarketWatch. Further, even if the July numbers had been bigger than the June's, they still would not be close to balancing out the 31 million on unemployment benefits across the country. So far, said MarketWatch, the economy has recovered only about 9.3 million of these jobs.

This trend aligns with what other figures have been indicating this week as well. Recent data from payroll processor ADP shows that while non-farm U.S. payrolls did increase by 167,000 from June to July, that is a far cry from the 4.3 million increase that occurred from May to June. Meanwhile, the U.S Department of Labor announced that 1.186 million people sought initial jobless benefits last week. That number is 249,000 fewer than the previous week's 1.434 million, which had been a shade higher than the number for the week previous to that, 1.4 million. While the figure is less grim than those from other weeks, it nonetheless points to a slowing of new hires in the labor market.