Job seekers meet with recruiters at the HIRE360 Diversity Hiring Expo & Mega Career Expo at the Carson Event Center on June 30, 2026 in Carson, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
The U.S. economy saw a sharp slowdown in job creation heading into the summer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 57,000 jobs in June from the previous month, but slower than the downwardly revised 129,000 increase in May and worse than the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 115,000.
However, the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, slightly higher than 4.1% a year ago.
This decline was mainly due to a decline in the labor force participation rate, which fell by 0.3 points to 61.5%, the lowest level since March 2021. Household employment fell sharply during the month, with 507,000 fewer people working.
Average hourly wages rose 0.3% in the month and 3.5% year-on-year, both in line with consensus forecasts.
Professional and business services contributed the most with an increase of 36,000 jobs. Social assistance employment rose by 25,000 jobs and health care employment rose by 22,000 jobs, but at a slower pace than usual for the industry. Government employment increased by 8,000 people.
However, the leisure and hospitality industry reported 61,000 job losses, which the BLS said reflected slower than normal seasonal hiring. There was speculation that the World Cup would provide some boost to payroll figures, with Goldman Sachs expecting an increase of 40,000.
Most other categories showed little change.
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