BLS Employment Situation Summary for June 2026

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its June employment / unemployment report on July 2^nd, 2026.

Employment / Unemployment

• Seasonally Adjusted U-3 is 4.2% down from 4.3%
• Unadjusted U-3 is 4.4% up from 4.1%
• Unadjusted U-6 is 8.2% up from 7.7%
• Labor Force Participation is 61.5% down from 61.8%
• Unadjusted Employment rose from 159.398 million to 159.830 million
• Next Update: August 7th, 2026

Summary:

Despite the Seasonally Adjusted U-3 being DOWN, this report is weaker than the headline unemployment rate suggests. Although the decline in unemployment looks encouraging at first glance, we can see that the Unadjusted numbers are actually up and Labor Force Participation is down, which tends to skew the appearance of the U-3. Another factor making the U-3 number look better is the BLS revising the previous employment numbers down, so this month’s gains look bigger. Employment tends to have an interim peak in June with declines into July and August before resuming the uptrend, so next month’s report could be weaker.

The good news

• Companies are still reluctant to lay off workers.
• Wage growth remains reasonably healthy.
• Professional and business services, healthcare, and social assistance continued adding jobs.

According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

“Both total nonfarm payroll employment (+57,000) and the unemployment rate (4.2 percent) changed little in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in professional and business services, social assistance, and health care. Leisure and hospitality lost jobs…

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.9 million in June but is up by 286,000 over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 27.3 percent of all unemployed people in June.“

As usual, they are talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs”.

Looking at the Unadjusted Establishment Survey report, we see…
Last month, the BLS reported employment of 158.726 million for April, which they have adjusted down to 158.713 million a decrease of 13,000. Original May numbers were 159.467 million, adjusted to 159.398 million, a decrease of 69,000 for a combined decrease of 82,000. But based on the revised numbers, employment is still up by 1.117 million since April.

Current Unemployment Rate Chart

Current Employment Chart

BLS: June 2026 Employment by Sector

Looking at the above chart, we can see that 4 sectors showed employment losses in June 2026: Leisure and hospitality lost -61,000 jobs, Information lost -9,000 jobs, Retail trade lost -7,500 jobs, and Mining lost -4,000 jobs. The biggest gainers were Professional & Business services, which gained 36,000 jobs, and Education & Health, which gained 69,000 jobs.

BLS Average Weekly Wages

BLS Employment Levels by Industry

June 2026, Seasonally Adjusted Employment

Note: The monthly increase is Seasonally Adjusted, so even though Mining was 613,000 in May and 607,000 in June, which looks like a -6,000 decrease, the BLS reports it as a -4,000 decrease. And if we look at the totals, last month they reported the May Total Employment as 135,614,000 and this month they are saying it is 135,613,000. This looks like a -1000 decrease, not the reported 49,000 increase.

Source: BLS

ADP^® National Employment Report

ADP provides an independent (non-government) estimate of private-sector employment and pay, based on data derived from ADP client payrolls. According to ADP®, In collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

Note: The numbers are released a few days before the BLS numbers and are often quite different. This month the BLS says Leisure and Hospitality lost -61,000 jobs and ADP says it gained 2,000.

ADP: Private employers added 98,000 jobs in June

• Job creation was uneven in June. Financial activities and information were among the gainers, while leisure and hospitality delivered a sixth month of weak hiring.

Source: ADP®

ADP Private Employment by Establishment Size

ADP Job Gainers / Losers

Most sectors showed gains, with only one loser.

Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate Chart 1948-Present

Less Than Full Employment

This chart compares employment levels with the (inverted) unemployment rate.

Full Employment is when everyone who wants a job has one. It is generally considered to be around 3%. After the unemployment rate almost touched the magic full employment line in April 2023, it began moving away (i.e., higher unemployment).

Note: The Unemployment rate is inverted to track the employment rate. Neither is Seasonally Adjusted. For more information, see Employment vs. Unemployment.

Note: Full employment is not considered to be at zero percent because even when employers are having difficulty finding employees, some people are still unemployed due to either:

1. Structural unemployment (mismatch between worker skills and job requirements, i.e., not enough training) or
2. Frictional unemployment. There will always be people who have quit or have lost a seasonal job and are in the process of getting a new job. Or simply because they quit their job, knowing it would be easy to find another (hopefully better) job.

Seasonally Adjusted U1 through U6 Unemployment Rates

Labor Force Participation Rate

The LFPR fell sharply in June to 61.5%.

Note: A rising LFPR means that a greater portion of the Non-Institutional population is in the Labor Force.

The Labor Force Participation Rate is the percentage of the Non-Institutional Population that makes up the Labor Force.

And the Employment – Population Ratio is the percentage of the Total Population that is Employed.  We created a chart to help explain the difference. The Employment–Population Ratio is the percentage of the largest circle to the smallest circle in this diagram. In contrast, the LFPR is the relationship of the 2nd largest circle to the 3rd largest circle (entire green circle).

Employment-Population Ratio

By Age and Gender

This chart shows the Employment-Population Ratio by Gender. Men make up a much larger portion of the workforce.

Employment-Population Ratio by Race

This chart shows the Employment-Population Ratio by Race (including both Men and Women). As we can see, Hispanics and Asians have the highest percentage of their population employed, but this month the Hispanic workers dropped sharply

Percent Unemployed 27 weeks or Longer

Over a quarter (27.3%) of those unemployed have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer.

Unemployment by Education

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