Employment Situation

May 2025

Released June 06, 2025

From April 2025 to May 2025:

• Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 139K.
  • Private sector payroll employment increased by 140K.
  • Government payroll employment decreased by 1K.
• The headline unemployment rate (U-3) remained unchanged at 4.2 percent.
  • The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment), remained unchanged at 7.8 percent.
• The labor force participation rate (LFPR) decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 62.4 percent.

From April 2025 to May 2025:

• The best performing sectors were Private Education and Health Services (+87K) and Leisure and Hospitality (+48K).
• The worst performing sectors were Federal Government (-22K) and Professional and Business Services (-18K).

From May 2024 to May 2025:

• The best performing sectors were Private Education and Health Services (+923K) and Leisure and Hospitality (+262K).
• The worst performing sectors were Manufacturing (-88K) and Professional and Business Services (-81K).

From May 2024 to May 2025:

• For all employees on private nonfarm payrolls:
  • Average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.87 percent.
  • Average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.87 percent.
• For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls:
  • Average nominal weekly earnings increased by 4.04 percent.
  • Average nominal hourly earnings increased by 4.04 percent.

Table 1. Labor Indicators

	May 2025	Apr 2025	M/M change	May 2024	Y/Y change
Payroll jobs
Nonfarm	159.561M	159.422M	139K	157.828M	1.733M
Private	135.968M	135.828M	140K	134.505M	1.463M
Unemployment
Official rate (U-3)	4.2%	4.2%	0.0pp	4.0%	0.2pp
Broader rate (U-6)	7.8%	7.8%	0.0pp	7.4%	0.4pp
Labor force participation rate
16 years and over	62.4%	62.6%	-0.2pp	62.6%	-0.2pp
Prime age (25-54 years)	83.4%	83.6%	-0.2pp	83.6%	-0.2pp
Employment-to-Population Ratio	59.7%	60.0%	-0.3pp	60.1%	-0.4pp

Table 2. Earnings Indicators

	May 2025	Apr 2025	M/M change	May 2024	Y/Y change
Production and non-supervisory
Hourly earnings	$31.18	$31.06	0.39%	$29.97	4.04%
Weekly earnings	$1,050.77	$1,046.72	0.39%	$1,009.99	4.04%
All employees
Hourly earnings	$36.24	$36.09	0.42%	$34.89	3.87%
Weekly earnings	$1,243.03	$1,237.89	0.42%	$1,196.73	3.87%

Table 3. Revisions

	1st	2nd	3rd	Net revision
Nonfarm jobs added
April 2025	177K	147K		-30K
March 2025	228K	185K	120K	-108K
February 2025	151K	117K	102K	-49K

Table 4. Comparison to ADP Estimate

	BLS	ADP	Difference
Private nonfarm jobs added	140K	37K	103K

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey

April 2025

Released June 03, 2025

Job Openings: The total number of nonfarm job openings increased by 191K to 7.39 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.4 percent.

• The best performing sectors were professional and business services (+171K) and private education and health services (+115K).
• The worst performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (-92K) and other services (-60K).

Hires: The total number of nonfarm hires increased by 169K to 5.57 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 3.5 percent.

• The best performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (+112K) and professional and business services (+69K).
• The worst performing sectors were trade, transportation, and utilities (-65K) and financial activities (-32K).

Separations: The total number of nonfarm separations increased by 105K to 5.29 million, and the rate remained unchanged at 3.3 percent.

• Quits decreased by 150K to 3.19 million, and the rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 2 percent.
• Layoffs and discharges increased by 196K to 1.79 million, and the rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 1.1 percent.
• Other separations increased by 60K to 308K, and the rate remained unchanged at 0.2 percent.

Table 5. JOLTS Level Indicators

	Apr 2025	Mar 2025	M/M change	Apr 2024	Y/Y change
Job openings level
Nonfarm	7.391M	7.200M	191K	7.619M	-228K
Private	6.544M	6.342M	202K	6.764M	-220K
Hire level
Nonfarm	5.573M	5.404M	169K	5.584M	-11K
Private	5.215M	5.055M	160K	5.229M	-14K
Separation level
Nonfarm	5.288M	5.183M	105K	5.388M	-100K
Private	4.954M	4.845M	109K	5.025M	-71K

Table 6. JOLTS Rate Indicators

	Apr 2025	Mar 2025	M/M change	Apr 2024	Y/Y change
Job openings rate
Nonfarm	4.4%	4.3%	0.1pp	4.6%	-0.2pp
Private	4.6%	4.5%	0.1pp	4.8%	-0.2pp
Hire rate
Nonfarm	3.5%	3.4%	0.1pp	3.5%	0.0pp
Private	3.8%	3.7%	0.1pp	3.9%	-0.1pp
Separation rate
Nonfarm	3.3%	3.3%	0.0pp	3.4%	-0.1pp
Private	3.6%	3.6%	0.0pp	3.7%	-0.1pp

Upcoming releases

Date	Time	Release	Data source
Jun 11	08:30 AM	Monthly Inflation Update, May 2025	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Jun 12	10:00 AM	Monthly Fiscal Update, May 2025	U.S. Treasury
Jun 24	10:00 AM	State Employment Update, May 2025	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Jun 26	08:30 AM	Monthly GDP Update, Q1 2025 Third Estimate	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jun 27	08:30 AM	Monthly Expenditures Update, May 2025	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jul 03	08:30 AM	Monthly Employment Update, June 2025	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Jul 03	08:30 AM	Monthly Trade Update, May 2025	Bureau of Economic Analysis

Notes

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; ADP National Employment Report; JEC Republicans calculations

“pp” = percentage points; “M/M” = month over month; “Y/Y” = year over year

Consistent with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, monthly figures are seasonally adjusted. Discrepancy in change figures is possible due to rounding.