Below, EPI economists offer their insights on the jobs report released this morning, which showed 272,000 jobs added in May.

From EPI senior economist, Elise Gould (@eliselgould):

Read the full thread here. 

Jobs report comes in strong this morning with payroll employment increasing by 272,000 in May. Some notable weakness in the household survey, but most measures tell a consistent story of a strong but not hot labor market. Here, we see consistently strong job growth continuing. pic.twitter.com/g9ilEKcxGK

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) June 7, 2024

The topline household survey numbers suggest some mild weakness though it's important to remember that the payroll survey is the gold standard.

I'm not concerned by the mild uptick in the unemployment rate to 4.0%, which has remained at or below 4.0% for 30 months in a row. pic.twitter.com/Z7erPObbYm

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) June 7, 2024

Again, a more volatile series, the Black unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1% in May.

Getting to full employment is particularly important for historically disadvantaged groups (e.g. young, noncollege, Black and Hispanic workers) who always experience a tougher labor market. pic.twitter.com/bs2jSJ6skh

— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) June 7, 2024

From EPI president, Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz):

This labor market just keeps cranking out huge numbers of jobs. We’ve added almost a million jobs in the last 4 months alone, and the unemployment rate has been at 4% or less for TWO AND A HALF YEARS. It really is incredible.

— Heidi Shierholz (@hshierholz) June 7, 2024