The June jobs report beat expectations, with more than 140,000 new positions added last month. The unemployment rate declined to 4.1%. But there is more to the numbers than just the headline. Jo Ling Kent explains.

Washington

The June jobs report surpassed expectations, recording over 140,000 new jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate to 4.1%. However, a closer look reveals that much of the job growth was driven by local and state government hiring, with private sector employment showing limited gains.

Analysts noted that while the headline figures appear positive, the labor force participation rate has dropped to its lowest level since 2022, indicating that some job seekers have stopped looking for work. Businesses of all sizes are reportedly cautious about hiring, potentially influenced by broader economic uncertainties, though there is no evidence of widespread layoffs.

The June jobs report that beat expectations

The June jobs report beat expectations with more than 140,000 new positions added last month and the unemployment rate declined to 4.1%. But there is more to the numbers than just the headlines. CBS's Jolene Kent is here and physically here, which is very nice to help us understand this. So what do you see in the numbers? Look, this was an unexpected, strong jobs report. But when you dig into the nitty gritty, where were the jobs created? It was local and state government jobs that really upheld this jobs report. Private sector hiring was actually lackluster here. So if you were to strip out, say, those local government jobs, you actually would have ended up with a weak jobs report. And so overall, what we're seeing is the private sector holding back here, even though we had a strong headline number that is a good thing to see. What conclusion, preliminary or at all, can anyone draw about the tariff policy in this jobs report? Well, we've been hearing as we report across the country that a lot of small, medium, and large-sized businesses are holding. They're waiting and seeing, and they're not hiring right now. And so anecdotally, we see that pullback that was evidenced in this jobs report, but we also don't see mass restructuring, mass layoffs, and things like that yet. Right, still an emerging picture. Yes. The 4.1% unemployment rate, it went down. So yay, right, or what? We always like good news, right? So it ticks down just a touch to 4.1%. But what you need to understand about that, though, is labor force participation rate. That's a nerdy way of saying some people who were looking for a job stopped looking. And so that means they don't feel confident in the job market to continue. So that actually isn't a great number, and labor force participation was actually at its lowest since 2022. So that is certainly a flag, maybe a pink flag, not red or white, we're watching it. Yeah, excellent. Well, now we have things to watch. Jolene Kent, good to see you and thank you. Thank you.

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Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

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