July hiring figures nationally took a sharp upward turn compared to June, according to U.S. Labor Department figures released Friday. The U.S. economy added 528,000 non-farm jobs last month, compared to 398,000 in June. 

Yahoo Finance compared July’s actual figures to the consensus estimates of economists compiled by Bloomberg. Economists had expected 250,000 jobs to be added, or less than half July’s tally. Figures for the unemployment rate (3.5% vs. estimates of 3.6%), monthly growth in average hourly earnings and year-over-year growth of average hourly earnings also exceeded expectations. 

“The July employment report was an absolute knock-out, a major upside surprise relative to my expectations and indeed much of the labor market data released up to this point,” Renaissance Macro Research head of U.S. economics Neil Dutta said in a note. “Talk of recession and a monetary policy pivot is premature.” 

He added, though, “That said, this jobs report is consistent with an inflationary boom. The Fed has a lot more work to do and in an odd way, that the Fed needs to get more aggressive in pushing up rates, makes the hard-landing scenario more likely.”