BUFFALO, N.Y. — The American economy added 157,000 jobs in July, continuing the trend of positive growth but about 33,000 short of economists' projections.

"It's not a good number but we have to be very careful about looking at one month’s numbers because last month’s numbers were a little bit high," said Fred Floss, SUNY Buffalo State Economics and Finance chair.

He said the numbers released Friday are not necessarily an indication of an economy slowing down, especially considering the Department of Commerce reported a 4.1 percent growth in the gross domestic product last week.

"We're still growing jobs at about the same rate that we have been over the last three to four years," Floss said.

Democratic political analyst Jack O'Donnell said that's good news for Republicans. He said members of the GOP who may disagree with President Donald Trump's other policies have used the positive numbers as reasoning for their continued support.

"They point to the economy and they say it's doing well, especially the 4.1 percent growth which I think Democrats and Republicans will tell you is phenomenal," O'Donnell said.

However, he said there are some negative signs for the administration, particularly the lack of significant wage growth.

"If they don't have enough extra money to buy that new Jeep over the summer or toy for their kids or take that extra vacation over the summer then it doesn't mean anything to real people," O'Donnell said.

Floss said an important factor will be how the U.S. economy reacts to Trump's tariffs on foreign policies and the potential for a trade war. He also pointed out tax cuts are currently driving growth but the government deficits it creates should push up interest rates and eventually slow down the economy.

"There are seeds that are planted in the economy now to start to slow it down but I wouldn't expect that to happen in the next six months for example," he said.

The timeline is important with mid-term elections coming up in November and Democrats attempting to gain control of Congress.

"We've seen in a lot of those specific instances, whether it's primary turnout, small dollar fundraising is very high,” O’Donnell said. “Is a good economy enough to save the House of Representatives for Republicans? It's going to be close."