The U.S. economy had a strong spring with job growth, even after April and May figures were revised downward.
But, while employers did add jobs again in June, it wasn’t quite what experts were expecting.
U.S. employers added a lower-than-expected 57,000 positions last month, according to the latest statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
June’s figure is less than half of what April (148,000) and May (129,000) saw, statistics showed. CNN reported the labor market, while still stronger than in 2025, has been steadily declining since March.
The latest data also showed that the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% as more people left the labor force.
“May’s larger gain briefly suggested the tide might be turning; June makes clear it was the exception, not the new rule,” Laura Ullrich, director of economics at Indeed Hiring Lab, wrote in commentary on Thursday, according to CNN. “On its face, this is a modest but fine report. The trouble is what ‘fine’ has come to mean: June’s gain isn’t evidence of a strong current drawing people in.”
Not only were employment gains softer in June, but the unemployment rate dropped as fewer people were in the labor market. Labor force participation dropped to a five-year low of 61.5% last month, falling from 61.8% in May.
“That decline in participation had been concentrated among older workers, perhaps because big stock market gains were prompting a wave of early retirements,” Pantheon Macro economists Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen wrote in a note, according to CNN. “But prime-age participation fell sharply last month too.”
