DALLAS and ALEXANDRIA, Va. -

Two economic trends important for buy-here, pay-here operators to watch — employment and bankruptcy filings — both improved in July.

According to the latest U.S. Economic Update produced by Comerica Bank, the nation’s economy added a strong 255,000 net new jobs in July following what the report called a “blowout” of 292,000 net new jobs recorded in June.

Beyond the positive payroll data, Comerica chief economist Robert Dye highlighted most other key labor market metrics improved in July, as well.

“Average hourly earnings increased, as did average weekly hours. So we can say that more workers worked longer hours and got paid better for it in July,” Dye said. “This is the trifecta for income growth which, in turn, is supportive of consumer spending.

“We can also say that the labor market is pulling in more workers from the sidelines,” continued Dye, who noted the civilian labor force in July was 1.4 percent larger than it was in July of last year, well above estimated population growth of 0.8 percent.

Dye calculated this movement has brought the total labor force participation rate up from a low of 62.4 percent in September 2015 to 62.8 percent in July.

Strong growth in the labor force kept the unemployment rate steady at 4.9 percent in July, according to Comerica’s report.

Meanwhile, the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) shared data from Epiq Systems that showed total bankruptcy filings declined 15 percent to 61,308 in July, down from the total of 71,875 posted in the same month last year.

Consumer filings came in at 58,386, dropping 16 percent from the July 2015 consumer filing total of 69,214.

While the consumer segment of bankruptcies are improving, ABI pointed out total U.S. commercial bankruptcy filings increased 10 percent year-over-year in July, totaling 2,922 cases.

“Businesses facing financial headwinds continue to turn to the financial fresh start of bankruptcy,” ABI executive director Samuel Gerdano said. “Driven by distress in the energy and retail sectors, commercial bankruptcy filings for 2016 will likely total close to 40,000.”

Total bankruptcy filings for the month of July decreased 8 percent when compared to the 66,303 total filings recorded during the previous month.

The average nationwide per capita bankruptcy-filing rate in July was 2.53 (total filings per 1,000 per population), a slight decrease from the filing rate of 2.56 during the first six months of the year.

Average total filings per day in July were 1,978, a 15-percent decrease from the 2,319 total daily filings in July of last year.

States with the highest per capita filing rates (total filings per 1,000 population) in July were:

1. Tennessee (5.56)

2. Alabama (5.34)

3. Georgia (4.62)

4. Illinois (4.22)

5. Utah (4.10)

ABI has partnered with Epiq Systems, a provider of managed technology for the global legal profession, in order to provide the most current bankruptcy filing data for analysts, researchers and members of the news media.