The U.S. economy added 255,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9%. It far surpassed expectations of economists surveyed by CNNMoney, who had predicted a gain of 182,000 jobs.

"Employment growth remains strong," says Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, a research firm.
So far this year, America has added about 1.3 million jobs. That's a healthy improvement but still a slightly slower pace than last year, when it had gained about 1.6 million jobs by this point. Job gains for May and June were revised up a bit too.