June’s unemployment rate rose to the highest monthly level in 31 months, hitting 4.1%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday.
June’s seasonally-adjusted 4.1% unemployment rate wasn’t just up from May’s 4.0% level, it was also the highest monthly unemployment rate since November of 2021 (4.1%).
Meanwhile, BLS revised downward the number of jobs created in April and May by a combined 110,000.
As a result, the previously-reported job growth in May was lowered by 54,000, down from a robust 272,000 to 218,000. Despite the downward revision for May, June’s job growth of 206,000 still slowed from the previous month.
The number of unemployed people rose to 6,8 million, up from 6.6 million in May. Both the unemployment rate and number of unemployed in June are higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.6% and the number of unemployed people was 6.0 million.
Job gains occurred in government, health care, social assistance, and construction:
- Government employment rose by 70,000 in June, higher than the average monthly gain of 49,000 over the prior 12 months.
- Health care added 49,000 jobs in June, lower than the average monthly gain of 64,000 over the prior 12 months.
- Employment in social assistance increased by 34,000 in June. Over the prior 12 months, social assistance had added an average of 22,000 jobs per month.
- Construction added 27,000 jobs in June, higher than the average monthly gain of 20,000 over the prior 12 months.
Notable declines occurred in retail trade employment, which fell 9,000 in June and employment in professional and business services, which declined 17,000 from May.
