The United States added 139,000 nonfarming jobs in May, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report released on Friday morning. The unemployment rate is holding steady at 4.2%, and while the federal labor force continues to lose jobs, employment is trending up in the healthcare, leisure, social assistance, and hospitality sectors. Employment in other major industries has shown little change over the past month.
However, employment growth in the previous two months was revised down by 95,000 jobs, signaling a stable but cooling labor market. Jack Jones, principal consultant at Mercer, writes that as the labor market continues to steady, the U.S. is seeing a shift from the “Great Reshuffling” following the COVID-19 pandemic to the “Great Stay.”
The number of people who have been jobless for less than five weeks has jumped by 264,000 to 2.5 million in May, while the number of long-term unemployed Americans decreased by 218,000 to 1.5 million.
Average hourly earnings also rose slightly, by 15 cents, to $36.24 in May. Over the past year, earnings have grown by 3.9%, according to BLS.
“Employees are staying put not just out of loyalty, but out of caution, highlighted by lower job creation in May,” Jones adds. “Given the relative strength of their position, employers are feeling less pressure on compensation, placing greater emphasis on upskilling current staff. In anticipation of 2026 compensation decisions, they are taking time over the next few months to tailor their total rewards to meet the different needs of their workforce in line with budgetary constraints.”
