US job gains eased slightly in June while unemployment edged up, government data showed Friday, in a sign that the world’s biggest economy is cooling steadily.

READ ALSO:Canada job numbers flat for a second month in June

Wage growth decelerated, although it still outpaced consumer inflation. But this has not translated into rosy sentiment over the broader economy, adding to President Joe Biden’s challenges as he seeks reelection.

The country added 206,000 jobs last month, the Labour Department said, marking a slower pace of hiring than May’s revised 218,000 figure.

The gains still beat a Briefing.com consensus estimate of 185,000, signalling that the labor market remains relatively resilient despite high interest rates.

The jobless rate ticked up from 4.0 percent to 4.1 percent.

For now, the figures point to a “very gradual, orderly cooling” in the market, ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak told AFP.

But she pointed to signs of weakness, including downward revisions to April and May hiring numbers by a cumulative 111,000.

The uptick in unemployment, though narrow, also marks the highest level since November 2021 — ending a 30-month stretch where the rate stood at or below 4.0 per cent.

• -‘Slowing’ market –
  More than one-third of overall gains came from government employment, noted Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. This means that headline gains do not paint a full picture of the labor market’s health.

“Other aspects of the data indicate a slowing job market,” he said in a note.

Temporary hires dropped by 49,000, indicating that business demand for labor is falling, Fratantoni said.

Wage growth slowed from 0.4 percent in May to 0.3 percent last month.

Compared with a year ago, the increase was 3.9 percent — also easing from before.

“Weakening demand for labor will lead to further moderation in wage growth,” said economist Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics.

But this is likely to bolster the Federal Reserve’s confidence that inflation is on a downward path to policymakers’ two percent target.

• -Rate cut? –
  The latest report comes on the back of a slump in activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, alongside easing inflation.
• While there is some way to go, these indicators will likely give the US central bank more confidence to begin cutting interest rates — after holding them at a high level in recent months.

This move could, in turn, give the economy a boost.

Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, expects the Fed could start talks about cutting rates at their next policy meeting.

They could “lower the policy rate in September, if the data continue to show moderation,” she said.

For now, she noted that even though wage growth has decelerated, the rates of change remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic trends.

On the data’s bearing on Fed policy, Pollak earlier told AFP: “The trend that matters most is continued disinflation in the various measures of consumer and producer prices.”

“The second-most important trend is deceleration in wage growth,” she said.

Canada’s unemployment rate rose slightly in June to 6.4 per cent as hiring stalled amid strong population growth, the government said Friday.

The 0.2 percentage point increase in the jobless rate continued an upward trend that started in April 2023.

A net loss of 1,400 jobs in June was a weaker-than-expected outcome following a little change in Canada’s employment situation the previous month, Desjardins analyst Royce Mendes said in a research note.

“The sharp rise in the unemployment rate (from a low of 4.8 per cent in July 2022) will have many questioning whether Canada has entered a recession,” he continued.

Statistics Canada suggested in a statement that “people are facing greater difficulties finding work in the current labour market.”

The agency pointed to data showing the proportion of long-term unemployed Canadians has risen alongside the rising unemployment rate.

This appeared to be the case, especially for older unemployed persons aged 55 or older, who on average have now been jobless for 27 weeks or more, it said.

Youth unemployment was also up in the month, hitting young men the hardest.

Wages, meanwhile, continued to rise at a brisk pace.

Overall, the number of people working in transportation and warehousing, as well as in public administration declined in June, while more people were employed in accommodation and food services, and in agriculture.

Canada’s population, meanwhile, surpassed 41 million on April 1, up by one million in the past 10 months as immigration surged.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned commercial banks over their rejection of dirty and mutilated naira banknotes from depositors, adding that they will face sanctions.

The CBN issued this warning in a circular dated June 28, 2024, and signed by Director, Currency Operations Department, Solaja Mohammed Olayemi.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has received several reports of rejection of dirty/mutilated Naira banknotes by some Deposit Money Banks (DMBs),” the circular read.

“Consequently, it has become imperative to remind DMBs that the CBN circular dated July 2, 2019, reference number COD/DIR/GEN/CIR/01/006, which prescribes penalties for the rejection of Naira banknotes, is still enforceable and binding on erring DMBs.”

Going forward, the apex bank said it will not hesitate to apply strict sanctions on DMBs who are reported to have rejected deposits of naira banknotes from the public under any guise.

Olayemi added in the circular addressed to all DMBs and the general public, saying “Mutilating naira notes or coins is a punishable offence according to the law (CBN Act Section 21).

Rejecting naira is also against the law (Section 20 subsection 5).”

KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it will start collecting a 7.5 per cent Value-Added Tax on transaction fees for users in Nigeria, effective July 8, 2024.

The company made this disclosure in a statement posted on its X account on Wednesday.

“We are writing to inform you of an important regulatory update that impacts our users from Nigeria,” KuCoin said.

“Starting from July 8th, 2024, we will begin collecting a Value-Added Tax (“VAT”) at a rate of 7.5% on transaction fees in each trade for users whose KYC information is registered in Nigeria.”

KuCoin disclosed that the VAT will be charged on the transaction fees, which range from 0.1% to 0.05%, and not on the total transaction amount.

This means that if a user buys $1,000 worth of Bitcoin with a 0.1 per cent fee rate, the transaction fee would be $1.

The VAT would be 7.5 per cent of the fee, which is $0.075. The net amount for the transaction would be $998.925.

KuCoin, however, urged users to note that the VAT will be applied to the transaction fees in each trade, not the transaction amount, and covers all transaction types on KuCoin platform.

The Finance Act 2023 (FA2023, or the Act), which former President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law on May 28, 2023, introduces significant changes to the existing tax laws and regulatory framework, aiming to foster economic growth, enhance fiscal stability and promote sustainable development.

The FA2023 seeks to provide support for the funding of the 2023 Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition.

The Act aims to strike a balance between fiscal stability and economic growth while addressing emerging challenges in the digital economy, ensuring sustainable economic growth and improving the tax administration.

The Act introduces changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Act, Companies Income Tax (CIT) Act, Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act, Customs and Excise Tariff Etc. (Consolidation) Act (CETA), Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) Act, Stamp Duties Act (SDA), Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (CPORO) Act, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment) Act, Public Procurement Act (PPA) and the Ministry of Finance (Incorporated) {MoFI} Act.

The commencement date of these amendments is now September 1 2023, in line with the Finance Act (Effective Date Variation) Order, 2023, which was signed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on July 6, 2023.
The Act also made slight modifications to its predecessors, the Finance Acts 2019, 2020 and 2021, to clarify some of the changes introduced by these Acts and align them more with the government’s fiscal plans and current economic realities.

Around 235 million pounds (298 million dollars) is expected to be withdrawn from ATMs on Thursday as people fit trips to cash machines around casting their general election votes.

This is according to a forecast from UK Cash Access and Cash Machine Network Link reported on Wednesday.

The network expects the total to be lower than it was on Dec. 12, 2019, when the last general election was held.

On that date, which resulted in Boris Johnson returning to Downing Street as Conservative Prime Minister, 322 million pounds were withdrawn.

The Link said that early December tends to be a slightly busier time for cash machine withdrawals.

And on the general election date of June 8, 2017, which led to the then-prime minister Theresa May’s election gamble backfiring as the Conservatives’ Commons majority was erased.

Some 356 million pounds were taken out of ATMs.

On Thursday last week (June 27), 240 million pounds were dispensed from ATMs, according to Link’s figures.

The data is applied only to Link transactions, which are made in situations where a bank customer uses an ATM belonging to another provider.

The vast majority of ATMs across the UK were connected to the Link network.

Link said that the earlier part of the summer tended to see an upswing in cash machine transactions as people got out and about.

However the network often saw a dip in ATM transactions in August, as many UK residents headed off on holidays abroad.

Graham Mott, director of strategy at Link, said.

“Polling day traditionally itself doesn’t seem to make a huge difference to ATM use when compared to a normal Thursday at that time of year; people seem to fit voting around their normal routine.

“Early December is normally slightly busier than either early June or July but the vast majority of the fall in ATM use is due to people now doing less cash overall.

“They are increasingly using cards and their phones to make day-to-day payment transactions.”

In 2023, legislation was passed as part of the Financial Services and Markets Act, to protect access to cash.

A recent survey for Link indicated that nearly 48 per cent of people expected to see a cashless society in their lifetime.

However, according to Link’s data, the average UK adult still withdrew around 1,500 pounds from cash machines last year.

In June, banknotes bearing King Charles III’s portrait started to be issued.

This marked the first time that the sovereign had been changed on the Bank of England’s notes because the late Queen was the first British monarch to be depicted on a note in 1960.

The new banknotes are co-circulating alongside those featuring the late queen.

There are more than 4.6 billion Bank of England notes in circulation, worth around 82 billion pounds.

Mott said that 99.8 per cent of UK high streets had free cash access within 1 kilometre.

“Link will also make sure this is still the case by the time of the next general election, whenever that is.”