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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
• | |
3 min read | |
The hidden bad news in the June jobs report | |
Analysis by Lucy Bayly, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:10 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
On the face of it, presents a robust picture of the US economy, with a | |
historically low unemployment rate, a healthy number of jobs added and | |
wage growth that outpaces inflation. But a closer look at the data | |
reveals blemishes that could mar that rosy outlook — with President | |
Donald Trump’s economic policies as the most significant common | |
denominator. | |
The monthly headline number of 147,000 soundly beat out expectations of | |
117,500 net job gains, with a healthy upswing in traditionally steady | |
industries like local and state government, education, leisure and | |
hospitality and health care. | |
And the unemployment rate also looks encouraging, falling to 4.1% | |
against expectations of a rise to 4.3% for the first time since | |
October 2021, when the country was still in the throes of pandemic | |
upheaval. | |
Even the dreaded offer promise — April and May were both revised | |
upward, while in previous reports, prior months have tended to see | |
(sometimes hefty) downward revisions. For example, March’s | |
stronger-than-expected 228,000-job gain was ultimately revised down by | |
108,000 jobs. | |
But, beyond the top-level data, things get a little murkier in the June | |
report: | |
It is becoming harder for Americans to find work: The average duration | |
of unemployment rose from 21.8 weeks to 23 weeks, and the share of | |
unemployed workers who have been out of a job for 27 weeks or longer | |
rose to 23.3%, edging closer to a three-year high. — and the | |
dizzying back and forth on implementing them and pausing them — has | |
caused many businesses major decision-making or spending, including | |
hiring. | |
Manufacturing employment was down: The sector saw a decline for the | |
second-straight month, losing 7,000 jobs — a cloudy development for | |
one of . | |
Job growth was not widespread: Sectors that saw the biggest monthly | |
gains were mostly ones that are less affected by tariffs. | |
Employees worked fewer hours: The average workweek edged down by | |
one-tenth of an hour, to 34.2 hours, in June. This potentially signals | |
a weakening in the demand for labor, economist Dean Baker of the Center | |
for Economic Policy Research noted. | |
The unemployment rate for Black Americans rose: The jobless rate for | |
Black workers increased in the June report, rising from 6% to 6.8%, | |
its highest rate since January 2022. That’s typically an indicator of | |
economic weakness, but it’s also a volatile number from month to | |
month. | |
More women are leaving the workforce: The data indicates that job gains | |
could be going mostly to men: Since January, a net 338,000 women have | |
left the labor force, while 183,000 men have joined the labor force, | |
the National Women’s Law Center noted on Thursday. | |
Wage growth gains have slowed: While the pace of wage growth increased | |
last month, it was at a slower rate than economists expected. Average | |
hourly earnings rose by just 0.2% in June, bringing the annual growth | |
rate to 3.7% from 3.9%. | |
There’s some to understand: The unemployment rate went down and the | |
size of the labor force also went down — mostly because the US lost | |
more than 1 million foreign-born workers in the last quarter. That | |
rebalancing essentially allows the jobless rate to stay unchanged or | |
even drop, despite an increase in the number of people out of work. | |
About those workers: Trump’s policies include a large-scale | |
immigration crackdown and , depriving companies of what has been a key | |
sector of the labor force in recent years. | |
For now, the US job market continues to defy expectations. But with | |
Trump’s self-imposed for key US trading partners to reach a deal on | |
tariffs, and his still being debated in Congress, businesses and their | |
workers remain frozen in a state of uncertainty. | |
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