While the diffusion of job gains has increased—which is good news—it remains below pre-covid levels. Since Jan 2025, all private sector gains can be accounted for by healthcare/social assistance (+56.3k avg jobs per month while all other private sector industries combined averaged 0 jobs per month).
Elise Gould
Job growth was strongest in leisure and hospitality, state and local governments, and health care. Losses continued in financial activities in May.
Year over year real hourly wages continued to fall in May. The CPI grew 4.2% in May, beating out nominal wage growth and leading to a 0.8% fall in real wages. Accelerating price inflation is the real culprit but decelerating nominal wage growth indicates a weakening labor market.
#NumbersDay
Manufacturing employment rose by 7,000 in May, slowly clawing back the large losses last year.
Since January 2025 when Trump took office, the manufacturing sector has lost 68,000 jobs.
#EconSky
Nominal wage growth continued to slow in May, now 3.4% over the year. While we don't get the May inflation data until next week, it's very likely, given recent trends, that real wages will continue to fall and workers and their families will find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
#EconSky
While there's been little change this year, federal employment has shrunk an alarming 333k jobs since Jan 2025. The vital services federal employees provide cannot be done without these essential workers.
#NumbersDay #EconSky
Elise Gould
After several months of bumpy employment growth, it's encouraging to see three months of stronger growth. Given this unexpected strength, some may question the validity of the data. At this point, there are no signs that these numbers are cooked or fabricated.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
The latest jobs report came in stronger than expected this morning. The economy added 172,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. Nominal wage growth continued to decelerate, further exacerbating affordability as prices rise.
#EconSky #NumbersDay @epi.org
Trump's war has wiped out an entire year and a half of wage growth
