A big sign today that the economy is recovering as hiring blows out expectations in July. 943,000 new jobs were added. Economists predicted 860,000 news jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 5.4%. The AP reports:

Hotels and restaurants, reopening and doing brisk business, added 327,000 jobs last month. Local public schools added 221,000.

The number of people who reported they had jobs surged by 1 million, pushing the jobless rate down from 5.9% in June.

Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told CNBC: “This not only was a strong jobs report by nearly every measure, it also signals more good things to come.”