U.S. employers added just 57,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department said Friday, July 2 — a marked slowdown from the two preceding months — while the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2%.
The numbers landed well below the pace that had defined much of the year. Job growth had been running stronger through the spring, making June’s figure a notable drop. The unemployment rate’s small decline offered a partial offset, though hiring velocity is what economists and policymakers tend to watch most closely as a gauge of labor market health.
The Labor Department’s report didn’t break out sector-by-sector totals in Friday’s release. What it did confirm: 57,000 net new positions, and a jobless rate that hasn’t climbed despite the hiring deceleration. That combination – fewer new jobs, but also fewer people counted as out of work — can reflect workers leaving the labor force rather than finding employment, though the report itself didn’t specify the cause of the rate’s movement.
No date has been set for the next monthly jobs report.
