If you were betting on job numbers, and you bet that 18,000 new jobs were created last month, thinking we’d have a repeat of June, you’d be wrong. But it’s probably a bet you’d be happy to lose, because in July, we added 117,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “The Employment Situation” summary for July 2011. This jump followed two months of very little growth (in May and June).

Despite this growth and landing above Wall Street expectations, we’re still below the number needed to really make a dent in the unemployment rate — but it’s an improvement. So, the sky isn’t falling — and let’s just say we’re cautiously optimistic, yes?

Other details from this month’s “The Employment Situation” summary:

• Net growth explanation: 154,000 jobs were created in the private sector, but with a loss in government jobs of 37,000, we saw a net increase of 117,000.
• May and June’s low growth numbers have also had positive net revisions of  56,000.
• The labor force, at 152.3 million, did not change much in July.
• The unemployment rate was little changed but we did see improvement, from 9.2 to 9.1 percent. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that this lower rate was due to more individuals dropping out of the employment search (labor force participation fell from 64.1 percent to 63.9 percent).
• Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 10 cents to $23.13. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.3 percent.
• Neither average weekly hours or the number of temporary employees rose; as The Economist points out, both are indicators of future labor demand.

Hiring by industry

We saw job gains in health care, retail trade, manufacturing, and mining. Specifically:

• Health care employment grew by 31,000 in July. Ambulatory health care services and hospitals each added14,000 jobs over the month. Over the past 12 months, health care employment has grown by 299,000.
• Retail trade added 26,000 jobs in July. Employment in health and personal care stores rose by 9,000 over the month with small increases distributed among several other retail industries.
• Manufacturing employment increased by 24,000 in July; nearly all of the increase was in durable
  goods manufacturing. Within durable goods, the motor vehicles and parts industry had fewer seasonal
  layoffs than typical for July, contributing to a seasonally adjusted employment increase of 12,000 jobs.
• Mining employment rose by 9,000; virtually all of the gain (+8,000) occurred in support activities for mining.
• Professional and technical services continued to trend up in July, with a gain of 18,000 jobs.
• Employment in construction, transportation and warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and financial activities changed little in July.
• Government employment continued to trend down in July, with a loss of 37,000. Employment in state government decreased by 23,000, due almost entirely to a partial shutdown of the Minnesota state government.
• Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 10 cents in July to $23.13. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.3 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 8 cents to $19.52.

See what CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson had to say yesterday on CNBC’s Squawk Box program about job creation, the biggest skill shortage we’re facing right now, and more.

What do you think about July’s BLS job numbers?