The United States (US) economy has added 147,000 jobs in June, beating analyst expectations, as the labor market remains stable despite economic uncertainty driven by President Donald Trump’s policies.
The Department of Labor released the numbers on Thursday, showing the unemployment rate ticked down from May by 0.1 percentage points to 4.1 percent. Government jobs at the state and local levels led the gains, adding 73,000 positions in June, with state governments adding 47,000 jobs, led by 40,000 in education.
Local government jobs grew by 23,000, while federal government jobs continued to decline, losing 7,000 jobs, which accounts for 69,000 jobs lost since January. The healthcare sector also saw significant gains, adding 39,000 jobs, and social assistance employment increased by 19,000 jobs. “On net, it was a good report,” said Sarah House, senior economist with Wells Fargo. “But when you dig underneath the surface, it was another jobs report that didn’t look quite as good as first meets the eye.”
Despite the positive job numbers, looming uncertainty driven by Trump’s tariffs and immigration policies led to little change across much of the private sector in terms of hiring.
“Though layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. The average workweek was shorter last month, suggesting businesses were probably reducing hours amid rising economic headwinds.
The US job market has cooled significantly in the past year, with employers adding an average of 130,000 jobs per month, down from an average of 186,000 in 2024. From 2021 to 2023, the US economy added an average of 400,000 jobs per month as it made up for jobs shed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wells Fargo expected monthly job growth to fall below 100,000 in the second half of the year. “We’re bracing for a much lower pace of job growth,” House said. “There’s still a lot of policy uncertainty.”
The White House characterized the jobs report as a sign of a booming economy, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating, “For the FOURTH month in a row, jobs numbers have beat market expectations with nearly 150,000 good jobs created in June.
The economy is booming again and it will only get better when the One, Big, Beautiful Bill is passed and implemented.” However, economists are cautious about the future, citing policy uncertainty and potential economic headwinds.