Job Growth Takes a Slight Dip in June, But Unemployment Rate Keeps Rising

The US job market remained strong in June, despite a slight cooling of job growth as expected. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Friday, the US economy added 206,000 jobs, down from a revised May tally of 215,000. Despite this slight dip in growth, the unemployment rate increased to 4.1% from 4%, marking the first time it has been above 4% since November 2021.

Economists had predicted that employers would add approximately 190,000 jobs and keep the unemployment rate at 4%. However, these expectations were not met as the labor market continues to evolve and change over time.

One interesting aspect of June’s job gains was their broad distribution across various industries. The public sector was responsible for the largest chunk of job gains with an addition of 70,000 jobs specifically in local government excluding education. Additionally, the health care industry also added 48,600 positions during this month.

Wage growth also cooled as predicted with average hourly earnings rising only 0.1% for the month and slowing to an annual rate of 3.9%. This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available on the labor market trends in June.