Despite rising inflation and ongoing economic uncertainty, the U.S. labor market remained resilient in May. Nonfarm payrolls increased for the third consecutive month, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. Job gains were concentrated in leisure and hospitality, local government, and health care, while financial activities experienced a decline in payroll employment.
Wage growth moderated in May, with average hourly earnings rising 3.4% year-over-year. This pace is 0.5 percentage points lower than a year ago. Importantly, wage growth has been outpacing inflation for nearly two years, which typically occurs as productivity increases.
National Employment
According to the Employment Situation Summary reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 172,000 in May, following an upwardly revised gain of 179,000 jobs in April. This marked the third consecutive month of job gains following a period of volatile payroll growth.
Employment gains for the previous two months were revised higher. The monthly change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised upward by 29,000 from +185,000 to +214,000, while the change for April was revised upward by 64,000 from +115,000 to +179,000. Combined, these revisions added 93,000 more jobs than previously reported.
Job growth in early 2026 has improved notably compared with 2025 but has yet to fully match the pace observed in 2024. Through May, monthly payroll gains have averaged 114,000, compared with 10,000 per month in 2025 and 122,000 per month in 2024.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3% in May. Over the month, the number of persons unemployed declined by 66,000, while the number of persons employed rose by 149,000.
Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population either looking for a job or already holding a job—remained unchanged at 61.8%. This marks the lowest level since November 2021 and remains below its pre-pandemic level of 63.3% recorded at the beginning of 2020. Among prime working-age individuals (aged 25 to 54), the participation rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 83.9%.
Job gains in May were slightly more broad-based than in recent months. Employment increased by 70,000 in leisure and hospitality, 55,000 in local government, and 35,000 in health care. In contrast, employment in financial activities declined by 22,000 and has fallen by 107,000 since its recent peak in May 2025. Federal government employment, which experienced a sharp decline last fall, increased modestly by 1,000 jobs in May.
Construction Employment
Employment in the overall construction sector rose by 17,000 jobs in May, following a gain of 9,000 in April. Within the industry, residential construction added 900 jobs, while non-residential construction added 15,700 jobs.
Residential construction employment now stands at 3.3 million in May, including 925,000 workers employed by builders and remodelers and nearly 2.4 million residential specialty trade contractors.
Despite the monthly gain, residential construction employment continues to show signs of weakness. The six-month moving average of job gains for residential construction remains negative, reflecting an average monthly loss of 1,300 jobs and declines in three of the past six months. Meanwhile, over the last 12 months, residential construction has shed a net of 33,300 jobs, marking the fifteenth consecutive annual decline and the longest stretch of annual losses since the Great Recession. However, residential construction has gained 1,303,900 positions from its post-Great Recession low.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for construction workers rose to 5.2% in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, though it remains relatively low compared with historical norms.
