The U.S. economy added just 57,000 jobs in June, a worrying sign for labor market stability as wage growth tracked below inflation for a third consecutive month.
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In June, average hourly earnings increased by 3.5%, which remains far below the most recent inflation reading of 4.2%.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% from 4.3%. June’s total was the lightest month of hiring since February, when the labor market contracted.
The report also included sharp revisions lower for prior months. Hiring in April was cut by 31,000 and May was revised down by 43,000.
Revisions are a normal part of the data collection process, and do not signal an error in prior months’ data. The BLS says they primarily result “from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates.”
The average monthly change over the last 12 months is now just 36,000 jobs, the BLS said.
Another troubling sign that BLS flagged was that health care sector hiring slowed to just 22,000 jobs. That’s slower than its 38,000 monthly average over the last year.
In 2025, that sector accounted for almost all of the overall job growth, and it has continued to be the primary driver of labor market growth this year.
Leisure and hospitality jobs contracted by 61,000 jobs in June. Many economists have watched this metric closely, as hotel and restaurant visits can offer an early warning sign of consumer spending pullbacks.
Additionally, BLS warned that hiring in oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, retail trade, transportation, financial activities and government all “showed little or no change over the month.”
The jobs report is being issued on Thursday instead of its traditional Friday release because U.S. bond and stock markets will be closed Friday, July 3 in observance of Independence Day.
The U.S. labor market has spent the past three months trying to get back on solid footing after several months of net job losses near the end of 2025.
The job gains come right before what some economists say will likely be a summer slowdown.
“One factor that calls for some caution is the notion that there could be a summer slowdown, with the three-month average in private jobs having bottomed in August in each of the last two years,” JPMorgan Chase economist Abiel Reinhart wrote in a note on Wednesday.
Some also warned that recent data are more an indicator of stabilization rather than strength.
Jennifer Timmerman, senior investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo, said that “Overall, we view the broad mosaic of jobs data as consistent with labor-market stabilization from weakness in late 2025, rather than renewed strength.”
