‘HOT’: Trump Touts Better-Than-Expected Jobs Report

Job growth in the U.S. exceeded economists’ expectations in May, according to the jobs report released by the Department of Labor on Friday.

It showed the U.S. added 139,000 nonfarm jobs from April to May, 9,000 more than some economists had predicted. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2%, about the same rate as in March and April. That amounts to about 7.2 million unemployed people. 

President Donald Trump touted the report on Truth Social. 

“AMERICA IS HOT! SIX MONTHS AGO IT WAS COLD AS ICE! BORDER IS CLOSED, PRICES ARE DOWN. WAGES ARE UP!” Trump posted. 

The president continued in another post, writing: “GREAT JOB NUMBERS, STOCK MARKET UP BIG! AT THE SAME TIME, BILLIONS POURING IN FROM TARIFFS!!!”

The jobs report is compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from two monthly surveys, which are used to estimate a picture of the U.S. labor market as a whole. The first is the household survey that calculates “force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics” and the second is the establishment survey, which measures “nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry.” 

The Labor Department counts people who are without a job, looking for one, and available to do work as unemployed. A particularly important statistic for the overall health of the economy is the number of long-term unemployed people, which is defined as those who have been without a job for 27 weeks or longer. That number diminished over the month by 218,000 settling at 1.5 million people.

Evidence of Department of Government Efficiency cuts could be seen in the decline in government employment. The federal government reduced its workforce by 22,000. In total, it’s down by 59,000 jobs since January. Job growth, meanwhile, was greatest in the health care and food service sectors. Health care companies added 62,000 jobs, and bars and restaurants added 30,000 jobs.

The labor report boosted the stock market, leading to all three major stock indexes rising. Factories had a harder time, losing 8,000 jobs. Hourly wages, though, showed a marked improvement rising, 0.4% since April and a full 3.9% from 2024. Workers will need that boost: The inflation rate in 2024 was 2.9%, and it is shaping up to be about 2.3% in 2025. That’s down from a recent record high of 7% in 2021 and 6.5% in 2022.

Of the groups measured that were unemployed, teenagers had the highest percentage rate at 13.4%. Adult men and adult women had the same rate at 3.9%. 

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