A hiring sign is displayed at a restaurant in Schaumburg, Illinois on Jan 30, 2023. WASHINGTON: US job gains eased slightly in June while unemployment edged up, government data showed Friday , in a sign that the world's biggest economy is cooling steadily as policymakers hope.
The country added 206,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said, marking a slower pace of hiring than May's revised 218,000 figure. The uptick in unemployment, though narrow, also marks the highest level since November 2021 - ending a 30-month stretch where the rate stood at or below 4.0 per cent.More than one-third of overall gains came from government employment, noted Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. This means that headline gains do not paint a full picture of the labour market's health.