Job numbers disappoint again as 2026 reaches the halfway point

Expectations heading into this week showed projections of about 115,000 new jobs being created in the United States in June. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the totals fell far short of those expectations. CNBC reported:

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The U.S. economy saw job creation cool sharply heading into the summer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

Nonfarm payrolls for June increased by a seasonally adjusted 57,000 for the month, slower than the downwardly revised 129,000 added in May and worse than the 115,000 Dow Jones consensus forecast.

The unemployment rate inched lower to 4.2%, which is still low by historical standards, though it’s still higher than it was when Donald Trump’s second term began.

Also discouraging were the revisions for April and May, which subtracted a combined 74,000 jobs from previous estimates.

As 2026 reaches the halfway point, the U.S. economy has created 552,000 jobs so far this year — a monthly average of 92,000 — which is an underwhelming total that plainly contradicts Donald Trump’s frequent claims that the domestic economy is now the strongest it’s been in American history.