Quick Facts:
- Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 139,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent.
- Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, and social assistance. Federal government continued to lose jobs.
- The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased over the month by 218,000 to 1.5 million.
- The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.6 million, changed little in May.
Looking Forward:
- The Dow industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all rose by 1% or more. The economy added 139,000 jobs last month, new data showed Friday. That was down from a revised 147,000 the month before, but beat consensus expectations for 125,000 additional positions. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.
- While job creation in the private sector remains positive, federal employment continued its retreat in May, shedding another 22,000 positions. Since January, the federal workforce has contracted by 59,000 jobs. Despite weakness at the Federal level, state and local governments added 21,000 jobs during the month, keeping the overall level of government employment mostly constant.
- Wages continued to move higher in May. Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 15 cents in May, or 0.4 percent, reaching $36.24. Over the past 12 months, earnings have grown by 3.9 percent. That level is still above inflation, and should help support household spending, but it also suggests that as the labor market strength has cooled, employee bargaining power has also moderated.
- The report comes against a teetering economic background, complicated by Trump’s tariffs and an ever-changing variable of how far he will go to try to level the global playing field for American goods. Most indicators show that the economy is still a good distance from recession. But sentiment surveys indicate high degrees of anxiety from both consumers and business leaders as they brace for the ultimate impact of how much tariffs will slow business activity and increase inflation.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Employment Situation – May 2025
