Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
In June, companies in the United States added only 57,000 new jobs.
Experts thought there would be many more new jobs, about 115,000.
The number of people without jobs went down a little. But many people also stopped looking for work.
This news came out the same week that stock prices reached a new record high.
- job
- work that a person does to earn money
- economy
- the system of making, buying, and selling goods and services in a country
- expert
- a person who knows a lot about a subject
- unemployment
- the state of not having a job
- rate
- a number that shows how much or how often something happens
- stock
- a small share of ownership in a company
- record high
- the highest level ever reached
- report
- a written or spoken account of information
Level 2 — Elementary
US employers added only 57,000 jobs in June, well below the roughly 115,000 jobs that economists had expected, marking one of the slowest months of hiring in recent memory.
The unemployment rate actually fell slightly to 4.2 percent, but this drop happened mainly because hundreds of thousands of people left the labor force and stopped looking for work.
Some industries, like healthcare and business services, still added jobs, while leisure and hospitality companies cut jobs during what is normally a busy hiring season.
The weak jobs report arrived the same week the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high, just before US markets closed for the July Fourth holiday.
- employer
- a person or company that pays others to work for them
- economist
- an expert who studies how money, jobs, and businesses work
- labor force
- all the people who are working or looking for work
- industry
- a group of businesses that provide a similar kind of product or service
- healthcare
- services related to keeping people healthy, like hospitals and clinics
- hospitality
- businesses like hotels and restaurants that serve guests
- Dow Jones Industrial Average
- a well known measure of how a group of large US company stocks are performing
- hiring season
- a time of year when companies usually hire more workers
Level 3 — Intermediate
US nonfarm payrolls rose by just 57,000 in June, sharply undershooting the roughly 115,000 economists had forecast and coming in well below May's downwardly revised gain of 129,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2 percent, but the improvement was driven largely by a falling labor force participation rate, which slipped to 61.5 percent, its lowest level since March 2021, as roughly 720,000 workers exited the labor force entirely.
Professional and business services led job gains with 36,000 positions, while healthcare added 22,000, but leisure and hospitality shed 61,000 jobs, a notably weak showing for what is typically a strong seasonal hiring period.
The report landed the same week the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high, and it further cooled expectations that the Federal Reserve would need to raise interest rates any time soon.
- nonfarm payrolls
- a measure of jobs added in the US economy, not counting farm work
- undershoot
- to fall short of an expected or target amount
- downwardly revised
- changed to a lower figure after a re-examination of the data
- labor force participation rate
- the share of people who are either working or actively looking for work
- shed
- to lose or get rid of, as in jobs
- seasonal
- related to a particular time of year
- cool expectations
- to reduce how strongly people believe something will happen
- interest rate
- the cost of borrowing money, usually shown as a percentage
Level 4 — Advanced
US nonfarm payrolls expanded by a mere 57,000 in June, undershooting the roughly 115,000 economists had forecast and falling well short of May's downwardly revised gain of 129,000, a slowdown the Bureau of Labor Statistics attributed in part to softening demand across seasonal and services employment.
The unemployment rate edged down to 4.2 percent, though the figure masks underlying weakness, given that the labor force participation rate slid to 61.5 percent, its lowest reading since March 2021, as an estimated 720,000 workers exited the labor force altogether rather than finding new positions.
Sectoral gains were uneven: professional and business services and healthcare posted modest increases, while leisure and hospitality shed 61,000 positions, an unusually weak result for a period that typically sees a seasonal hiring bump.
Arriving the same week the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a record close ahead of the July Fourth market closure, the report further dampened expectations of any near-term interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve, reinforcing a narrative of a cooling, if not yet contracting, labor market.
- sectoral
- relating to a particular part or division of the economy
- mask
- to hide or obscure the true nature of something
- underlying weakness
- a hidden or less obvious problem beneath a surface-level result
- uneven
- not consistent or balanced across different parts
- notch
- to achieve or record, as in a milestone
- dampen
- to reduce the strength or intensity of something
- narrative
- a way of understanding or explaining a series of events
- contract
- to become smaller or shrink, as an economy might
