US jobs data seen reinforcing strong growth outlook

US employment growth is expected to have continued at a solid clip in June, which would further dispel fears about the economy's health and underscore its momentum heading into the second half of 2014. Nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 212,000 jobs after rising by 217,000 in May, It would be the first time since the technology boom in the late 1990s that employment had grown above a 200,000-jobs pace for five straight months. The closely watched employment report on Thursday would add to robust auto sales in June and data showing a steady manufacturing expansion in suggesting a plunge in economic output in the first quarter was a weather-driven anomaly. Gross domestic product contracted at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the January-March period, causing a sharp downgrading of growth estimates for this year. Growth in the second half of the year is forecast around a 3.5 percent pace. ‘The data have not been consistent with the weak first half of the year,’ said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. ‘The improving labor market backdrop is supportive of firming rates of US growth in the second half of the year.’ The Labor Department will release the June employment report at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The report is usually released on a Friday, but the government will be closed this Friday for the Independence Day holiday, according to Reuters.