U.S. Added 127,000 Jobs In May, Beating Expectations; Movie And Music Employment Falls

The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, beating expectations, as the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3%.

With gains in leisure and hospitality, health care and local government, the job situation again showed signs of improvement after a lackluster year in 2025.

But the gains were not felt across industries. Jobs in movies and music fell by 2,700 to 328,000, and employment among broadcasting and content providers fell by 4,000 to 333,200. The figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Average hourly earnings rose by 12 cents. or 0.3 percent, to $37.53. In the past year, earnings have risen by 3.4%.

The bureau also revised numbers upward for March and April, adding an additional 93,000 jobs across those months. Such revisions are typical, as the agency obtains new information from businesses and government agencies.

Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal, showed that the latest report was an indication that the “hiring recession is over.”

She wrote, “Almost every industry is hiring again except tech and finance. There are a lot of encouraging signs for the labor market heading into summer. (Unfortunately, inflation is a lot worse).”