Jobs report shows weaker-than-expected hiring in June
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The U.S. economy added 57,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2%, the government said Thursday.
Why it matters: Hiring lost momentum after months of surprising strength — a sign that economic uncertainty might be weighing on employers.
By the numbers: Jobs growth in June was roughly half the 115,000 job gains that economists expected.
- And the labor market looks weaker than first appeared in previous months: The Bureau of Labor Statistics said payrolls in April and May were a combined 74,000 lower than initially estimated.
The intrigue: Notably, the labor market participation rate — those with a job or looking for one — fell 0.3 percentage point, as workers left the labor market in droves in June.
- That helps explain the drop in the unemployment rate.
The big picture: The worse-than-expected jobs report comes after a string of reports suggesting the hiring slowdown in 2025 appeared to be in the rearview mirror.
The intrigue: Still, financial markets have anticipated that the Federal Reserve will move to control inflation by year-end.
- Price pressures have intensified as a result of the Middle East conflict, even as crude oil prices have returned to near pre-war levels.
- Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh signaled little concern about the labor market on a European Central Bank panel in Portugal on Wednesday, but he declined to hint at whether the central bank planned to raise interest rates.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.
