Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 172,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, local government, and health care. Employment in financial activities declined. This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see the Technical Note. Household Survey Data – The major labor market indicators from the survey of households continued to show little or no change in May. The unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent and has remained in a narrow range of 4.3 percent to 4.5 percent since July 2025. The number of unemployed people, at 7.3 million, changed little over the month. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates showed little or no change in May for adult men (4.0 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (14.7 percent), and people who are White (3.8 percent), Black (6.6 percent), Asian (3.8 percent), or Hispanic (5.0 percent). The number of people jobless less than 5 weeks declined by 286,000 to 2.2 million in May, largely offsetting an increase in the prior month. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed over the month at 2.0 million but is up by 524,000 over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 27.5 percent of all unemployed people in May. The labor force participation rate held at 61.8 percent in May, and the employment-population ratio changed little at 59.2 percent. These measures showed little change over the year, after accounting for annual population control adjustments. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.8 million, changed little in May. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. In May, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job changed little at 6.2 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force changed little at 1.7 million in May. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, was 486,000 in May, essentially unchanged from the previous month.
The Employment Situation (06-05-26)
- Economic Monthly Summaries, The Employment Situation
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