Steady Hiring Added 147,000 Jobs to U.S. Economy in June
Manufacturers are pausing hiring amid tariff uncertainty, while unemployment fell partly because fewer people are looking for work
U.S. job growth continued at a steady pace last month, surprising economists who had predicted a slowdown in hiring amid uncertainty over trade and fiscal policy.
The U.S. added 147,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported Thursday, above the gain of 110,000 jobs economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected.
The unemployment rate, which is based on a separate survey of U.S. households, fell to 4.1% from 4.2%.
Revisions showed that hiring was stronger in prior months than previously thought. The number of jobs added in April and May was a combined 16,000 higher than prior estimates.
Healthcare, which tends to hold up in every sort of economy, continued to add jobs. Hiring was also driven in part by state and local governments.
Federal-government layoffs were a modest drag on payrolls, with federal-government employment declining by 7,000 in June. But overall government employment rose by 73,000, because states and localities continued to add jobs.
U.S. stocks rose in morning trading.
Private-sector employers added just 74,000 jobs in June, down from 137,000 in May. That was also the lowest number since October 2024, after hurricanes Helene and Milton put thousands of people out of work.
More than half of the month’s gains came from state and local governments, which added a combined 80,000 jobs.
“The headline number exaggerates the underlying trend of job growth,” said Henry McVey, head of global macro and asset allocation at KKR. While overall job growth looked strong, it was heavily concentrated in a handful of sectors and driven in part by state and local government hiring.
One area of concern: Manufacturing employment fell for the second straight month. “The underlying data tells you that we’re having a manufacturing recession,” he said.
President Trump has said that his tariffs will make America richer and bring back manufacturing jobs.
The jobs report is a sign that manufacturers are holding off on hiring because of uncertainty over tariffs, said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University.
He also pointed to lackluster job growth in leisure and hospitality—sectors that rely heavily on immigrant labor—as a possible sign that the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration is affecting the job market. Still, he said, the jobs report is “very good” overall and shows a resilient economy. “The fear of stagflation has been greatly exaggerated,” he said.
The decline in the unemployment rate was driven in part by a drop in the number of people looking for work. The labor-force participation rate—the share of the working-age population that is employed or seeking employment—slipped to 62.3% from 62.4% in May. That was the lowest level since late 2022.
“We think we are starting to see a chilling effect on labor force participation from increased immigration enforcement,” Morgan Stanley economists said in a research note following the report. They added that the decline in participation was led by foreign-born people—an indication that some immigrants might be withdrawing from the labor market for fear of deportation.
The U.S. economy continues to face uncertainty over trade. While the White House has reached trade deals with the U.K. and China, it has yet to sign one with its biggest trading partner, the European Union. The Trump administration in May threatened 50% tariffs on imports from the EU, but then delayed them until July 9.
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