WASHINGTON–U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported today, with one CU economist saying the latest job report if full of “mixed signals.”
According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate was 3.6% in June, down slightly from 3.7% in May.
June marked the 30th consecutive month of gains in American payrolls, but also reflected a continued cooling of the labor market. The total was down from a revised 306,000 in May and was the lowest since the streak began, according to the Labor Department.
“The June jobs report was full of mixed signals. Job growth fell to its slowest pace since 2020, and downward revisions shaved over 100,000 jobs from prior estimates. But wage growth held firm at 0.4 percent, which will worry Fed officials,” said NAFCU Chief Economist and VP-Research Curt Long. “A rate hike later this month is almost assured, and at least one additional hike after that is highly likely. NAFCU will continue to monitor the economic environment to ensure credit unions are prepared to respond to their members' needs.”
The Highlights
Among the highlights in the latest data:
- Wages grew 4.4% in June from a year earlier.
- Government, healthcare and construction were among the sectors that added jobs. The leisure and hospitality industries hired workers at a slow pace in June, while employment at restaurants and similar businesses remains below prepandemic levels.
- Initial applications for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, rose last week and are up about 20% from the start of the year.
- The labor-force participation rate, or the share of Americans who are working or actively seeking jobs, remains well below the February 2020 prepandemic level of 63.3%.