Despite June’s headlined marquee job reports, a closer look details sluggish growth as a New York Times report details.

The nation added 223,000 jobs last month, which seems promising simultaneously as the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent, from 5.5 percent, the lowest since April 2008 as the ominous clouds were gathering.

But the injected 223,000 jobs are juxtaposed to a silent 60,000 job reduction in April and May, which signals a downward trend.

Jobs spawned at the end of last year averaged 281,000, the highest tick since 2000. But within six months, the average has spiraled to 208,000. Comparatively, 3.23 million jobs were produced in the last year ending in February, but the rate has sloughed off to 2.94 million.

Although 2.94 million jobs is a significant number viewed within a snapshot of time, there hasn’t been any indicators signaling robust job growth–the kind needed to tow a hungry workforce back into a productive force.

The numbers actually suggest the opposite. The labor force participation rate — the proportion of the population either working or looking for a job – flopped three-tenths of a percentage point to 62.6 percent, the weakest in modern times; 1977 has a lower number to contemplate.

It’s necessary to consider the shrinkage in labor force is due the baby-boomer drop out; however, the rate of jobs being created isn’t enough market potential for the millions seeking truly quantifiable full-time employment.

The reason for this is stagnant wage increases despite the glowing unemployment rate. Average hourly earnings remained flatlined at $24.95. In May, the annual growth in hourly rages rose to 2.3 percent then predictably dropped to 2 percent in June.

Major employers are inching up their entry-level salaries, and state and local laws are raising the minimum wage in many places; but people are essentially being grazed in green pastures only to enter the slaughter house.

Wages need a rising heart rate or the economy will continue in a comma with only trivial signs of consciousness.