Overview
- Payrolls rose by 172,000 in May, the Labor Department reported on Friday, the unemployment rate held at 4.3%, and March and April were revised up by a combined 93,000 jobs.
- Hiring gains were uneven, led by leisure and hospitality (about 70,000), local government (roughly 55,000) and health care (around 35,000) while finance and information shed jobs.
- Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% from April and 3.4% from a year earlier, leaving real pay growth behind inflation that is running near 4%.
- Economists and markets say the stronger report makes near‑term Fed rate cuts less likely and prompted a rise in Treasury yields ahead of the Fed’s mid‑June meeting.
- Longer‑term shifts — lower immigration, rising retirements, more remote work and gradual AI adoption — have cut the number of jobs needed to keep unemployment steady and are changing hiring prospects for new graduates.