The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its employment / unemployment report for May on June 6th, 2025.
Employment / Unemployment
- Seasonally Adjusted U3- 4.2% Unchanged
- Unadjusted U3- 4.0% Up from 3.9% in April
- Unadjusted U6- 7.4% Up from 7.3% in April
- Labor Force Participation Rate- 62.4% Down from 62.6%
- Employment- 159.964 million Up from 159.238 million
- Next data release July 3rd, 2025
Summary:
Although Total Employed increased slightly in May, and Unadjusted Unemployment was up slightly, Seasonally adjusted Unemployment stayed exactly the same indicating that although unemployment increased it was typical for the month of May. And unemployment has been in a narrow range for an entire year.
According to the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
“Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 139,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, and social assistance. Federal government continued to lose jobs…
The unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent in May and has remained in a narrow range of 4.0 percent to 4.2 percent since May 2024. The number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little over the month…
In May, the employment-population ratio declined by 0.3 percentage point to 59.7 percent. The labor force participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 62.4 percent.”
You can read the full BLS report here.
As usual, they are talking about “Seasonally Adjusted Jobs”.
Looking at the Unadjusted Establishment Survey report we see…
Originally the BLS reported employment of 159.316 million for April
which they adjusted slightly to 159.238 million in June.
They are currently reporting 159.964 million jobs for May which is actually an increase of +648,000 jobs based on their original numbers or +726,000 jobs based on their new adjusted numbers. The LFPR was lower at 62.4%.
Current Unemployment Rate Chart
As we can see, unemployment is 0.7% above pre-COVID lows of 2019 and 0.8% above the January and April lows of 2023.
