U.S. employers slowed hiring last month but still added a solid 139,000 jobs amid uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s trade wars, the Associated Press reports.
Hiring fell from a revised 147,000 in April, the Department of Labor said Friday. The job gains last month were slightly higher than the 130,000 economists had forecast, but revisions shaved 95,000 jobs from March and April payrolls.
The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.2%.
Health care companies added jobs. The federal government shed 22,000 jobs, the most since November 2020, as Trump’s job cuts and hiring freeze had an impact.
Average hourly wages rose 0.4% from April and 3.9% from a year earlier — a bit higher than forecast.
The job market has decelerated, with American employers adding an average of less than 124,000 jobs a month. That is down from 168,000 last year, 216,000 in 2023 and 380,000 in 2022.
