Mike Segar/Reuters
A boy rides a decorated bicycle down Main Street during the annual Fourth of July parade in Barnstable Village on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S., July 4, 2018.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release the June jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists forecast that employers added 195,000 payrolls last month, according to the median estimate compiled by Bloomberg.
They expect the unemployment rate to have held steady at 3.8%, the lowest level since 2000 and 1969 before then.
It would also be important to watch secondary indicators of employment that are not as impressive as the headline unemployment rate, such as the share of people who are working part-time but would prefer full-time jobs. Additionally, the Trump administration has drawn attention to the record-low of African American unemployment, even as it remained higher than the overall rate at 5.9%.
Average hourly earnings are expected to have increased by 0.3% month-on-month and 2.8% compared to June 2017. An acceleration of this rate would show that employers are indeed paying up for the skilled workers who they say are in decreasing supply. According to a report Thursday from the HR-software provider ADP, business' "number one problem is finding qualified workers."
Faster wage growth would also indicate that inflation is building in the economy, which hasn't been the case even though unemployment is this low. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, average hourly earnings growth of more than 0.4% from last month and payrolls of less than 140,000 would "spook" investors.
More to come, refresh this page for the latest at 8:30 a.m. ET