US adds 147K jobs in June, beating expectations
The federal jobs report showed the labor market chugging ahead last month, beating the expectations of economists. Analysts expected the U.S. to have added roughly 100,000 jobs in June and push the jobless rate up to 4.3 percent, according to consensus projections.
The U.S. economy has held sturdy amid shocks from President Trump's sweeping tariffs, which have drastically raised American import tax rates and uncertainty about the future of trade.
While the president has soothed some of those concerns by delaying and reducing import taxes he proposed in April, the White House is quickly approaching a self-imposed July 9 deadline to make deals with countries subject to the new tariffs.
Trump has said he would be just as happy to impose steep tariffs on trading partners again, which could reignite economic concerns.
The June jobs reports saw 39,000 jobs added in the health sector, 19,000 jobs added in social assistance and little change in heavy industry employment for sectors like oil and gas, construction, manufacturing and mining.
Manufacturing jobs decreased by 7,000 on the month.
Government employment was also way up, with 73,000 jobs added. Most of them were in state and local governments. Federal government employed decreased by 7,000 jobs.
The report also showed the labor force declining by 130,000 employed people. The workforce participation rate ticked down to 62.3 percent from 62.4 percent in May.
The Federal Reserve has kept interest rate cuts on ice while it waits to see the effects of tariffs and other macroeconomic factors on prices.
Inflation has ticked up to a 2.4 percent annual increase in the latest reading of the consumer price index and up to a 2.3 percent annual increase in the personal consumption expenditures price index.
Many forecasters are expecting to see tariffs show up in consumer prices in a significant way over the summer, though it's not certain. The import taxes can be taken out of margins at different points in value chains, or they can reduce demand for various products in addition to being passed along to consumers.
Trump has been fuming about the lack of rate cuts as the Fed has kept its policy in abeyance.
He wrote a note to Fed Chair Jerome Powell this week on top of a list of global central bank rates, saying, 'You should lower the rate – by a lot! Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost!'
Other parts of the world have lower inflation rates than the U.S. The European Union reached 2 percent inflation in June, which is the level of the Fed target, as well.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde acknowledged the achievement this week. 'Target reached,' she said at a conference in Portugal.
At the same event, Powell said that White House tariffs were the reason the Fed hasn't cut rates yet.
Updated at 9:11 a.m. EDT.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
15 minutes ago
After decades of service, Taiwan retires its last F-5 fighter jets
After decades in service, Taiwan's Vietnam-era F-5 fighter jets are being retired as part of the island democracy's transition to more advanced hardware HUALIEN, Taiwan -- After decades in service, Taiwan's Vietnam-era F-5 fighter jets are being retired as part of the island democracy's transition to more advanced hardware. To keep pace with increased threats from mainland China, Taiwan has been upgrading both its manned and unmanned aerial assets, including purchasing 66 of the latest generation F-16V fighters and upgrading existing aircraft to modern specifications. China claims the island as its own territory and has never dropped its threat to invade since the sides split amid civil war in 1949. The air force invited journalists on Friday to witness one last flyby by the F-5, which first entered service with Taiwan in 1965 and most of which have now been converted to trainers, reconnaissance planes or decoys. The planes began moving into a backing role 30 years ago when Taiwan began acquiring more modern American F-16s, French Mirage 2000s and domestically developed Ching Kuos. The F-5 is one of the world's most widely produced jets, with Taiwan the largest operator at one point with 336, producing some 100 domestically. Dozens of countries still use them, including the U.S., which uses them as pretend opponents in training exercises. The planes gained favor for their high speed and maneuverability, alongside their low cost and ease of maintenance. For Taiwan, they guarded the skies above the Taiwan Strait against mainland China's Soviet and domestically built fighters. Taiwan's F-5s were based along the eastern coast, separated from China by both the 160 kilometer (100 mile)-wide Taiwan Strait and Taiwan's formidable Central Mountain Range.
20 minutes ago
LGBTQ, legal groups slam UPenn for 'caving' to Trump's trans athlete ban
The University of Pennsylvania's decision to ban transgender female athletes from competing in women's sports to resolve a civil rights complaint by the Department of Education is being slammed by LGBTQ activists and legal experts as unconstitutional. The Trump administration announced this week that the Ivy League school has agreed to follow the Department of Education's interpretation of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The administration had previously suspended $175 million in federal contracts awarded to Penn, citing the participation of openly transgender athlete Lia Thomas on the women's swimming team during the 2021-2022 season. "It's embarrassing, dangerous and ill-advised. I think they made a very big mistake that they will come to regret," Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, told ABC News. "It's bizarre behavior, and it just seems humiliating that such a powerful, respected university is just caving in to these cruel and gratuitously hurtful positions." Minter added, "I think extortion is a very good metaphor for what's going on here. It is the federal government threatening to withhold funding if the university doesn't agree to take a position." 'Legally it makes no sense' As part of the agreement, Penn will adhere to two of President Donald Trump's executive orders that the White House says defend women from "gender ideology extremism." The university is also required to strip Thomas of her swimming awards, including her win in the 500 freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships, and send a letter of apology to female swimmers who competed against Thomas. The school also agreed to keep student-athlete bathrooms and locker room access strictly separate on the basis of sex. "Legally, it makes no sense," Minter said. "I mean, the position of the Trump administration is that Penn somehow did something wrong by following the law that was recognized to be the law by federal courts and by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice at the relevant time, and they were complying with NCAA policy. So, to punish them after the fact because the administration now has taken a different position on what they think the law should be, is pretty outlandish." When asked for comment, the university directed ABC News to a letter to the school community by University of Pennsylvania President Dr. J. Larry Jameson. In the letter, Jameson said the university's "commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering." The letter added: "At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports." White House: 'Common-sense' victory U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon applauded Penn's decision as a "common-sense" victory for women and girls. "Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women's sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes," McMahon said in a statement. During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to get "transgender insanity the hell out of our schools" and "keep men out of women's sports." "This Administration does not just pay lip service to women's equality: it vigorously insists on that equality being upheld," Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who tied with Thomas for fifth place in the 200 freestyle at the 2022 NCAA championships, said in a statement about the UPenn decision. Gaines said she hoped Penn's decision would prompt other educational institutions to refrain from violating women's civil rights, and "renews hope in every female athlete that their country's highest leadership will not relent until they have the dignity, safety, and fairness they deserve." In a 2022 interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," Thomas, who originally competed on Penn's men's swim team, denied she had an unfair advantage over swimmers who were born female. "There's a lot of factors that go into a race and how well you do and the biggest change for me is that I'm happy, and sophomore year, where I had my best times competing with the men, I was miserable," Thomas told GMA. "So, having that be lifted is incredibly relieving and allows me to put my all into training, into racing. Trans people don't transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves." Minter said it was "shocking" that Penn would agree retroactively to punishment for something lawful at the time. "In my view, it's still lawful. The only thing that has changed is the administration has taken a different view," Minter said. "This is just classic intimidation, bullying and harassment. It's really sad to see a university like Penn just knuckle under, I'm sure in hopes that they will not be further targeted if they do so. It's a shameful day for the university, for our country." Minter said he believes Penn's agreement is opening the university up to "all kinds of liability" moving forward. "They have now stated publicly that they were violating the law, and so what's to stop all kinds of other third parties from coming back and suing them now and saying, 'Well, you've admitted that what you were doing is unlawful.' I mean, it wasn't, but they've now said it was and so they're creating liability for themselves," Minter said. Supreme Court to hear trans athlete case Naiymah Sanchez, senior organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, told ABC News that she fears other universities that are subject to the Department of Education's civil rights investigation will follow in Penn's footsteps. "The anti-trans movement is allowing the building of power amongst people who are ignorant because they don't know and people who feel like if only we can remove these folks, we will have a better life," said Sanchez. "There's nothing that the University of Pennsylvania did that was unlawful. It followed standard guidelines." State bans on transgender students participating in girls' and women's sports have become flashpoints across the country. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear appeals from two states seeking to uphold such laws. The cases from West Virginia and Idaho -- which will be scheduled for argument next term in the fall -- will decide whether the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act prohibit the bans based on an athlete's sex assigned at birth. Lower courts in those cases sided with the student athletes in finding the state laws violated either the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause or Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. The decision to hear the cases follows a decision by the court's conservative majority last month upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Chief Justice John Roberts said the laws did not violate the 14th Amendment or discriminate on the basis of sex, even though the same medical treatments are widely available to cisgender minors. Sanchez noted that in 2024, then-NCAA President Charlie Baker, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that out of more than 500,000 student athletes competing at the college level, fewer than 10 were transgender. "As a trans person, we try not to get too emotionally attached to the issues that are happening, even if we're not the ones who are being denied the right," Sanchez said. "But the reality is that a new administration came in and they set their targets to a certain thing. They're going after the easiest fruit on the tree. But it's not just about picking the easiest fruit on the three, it's about uprooting the entire tree."
Business Insider
22 minutes ago
- Business Insider
A made-in-America apparel brand describes how Walmart helped it produce a more affordable US flag T-shirt
Check the tags on much of the American flag-themed apparel being worn this Independence Day weekend, and the country of origin may be somewhere other than the US. Making stuff overseas is typically cheaper, after all. That doesn't sit well with Bayard Winthrop, the founder of California-based apparel brand American Giant. "We can think of a lot of other mainstream brands or retailers that certainly don't abide by that for Fourth of July — or for any other thing," he told Business Insider. Bayard founded American Giant in 2011 with the mission of revitalizing US textile manufacturing, starting with what it dubbed "the greatest hoodie ever made." In recent years, the company celebrated Independence Day with a version of the iconic American flag T-shirt made entirely in the US. But Bayard said it was a challenge to achieve the kinds of production efficiencies that can lower costs. American factories can produce high-quality clothing, but it often comes at a premium price. For example, American Giant's website lists this year's US flag tee for $65. Bayard said the reasons for this include finer yarns and a more labor-intensive sewing process. "Those products are premium," he said. "They're optimized for top, top quality." About two years ago, Walmart approached him with a challenge to produce a made-in-US T-shirt at the retail giant's famously low prices. This was part of what is now a $350 billion commitment to invest in sourcing products that support American jobs until 2030. At the time, Bayard thought that the lowest possible price for an American-made shirt would have been $20 and that it would be "incredibly difficult" to make. The companies were able to make a shirt that is now available online and across roughly 1,500 Walmart stores for $12.98 — one-fifth of the price of the top-of-the-line version. American Giant developed a design that lowered costs by using a slightly thicker yarn and a tubular-knit pattern, rather than the side-sewn style of his main shirts, Bayard said. "But the vastly more important part of the costing is when you have Walmart and the volumes that they put there — which are huge — and staying committed to the program for an extended period of time," he said. Bayard stands firmly behind the quality of the less expensive Walmart product. "We think we're putting great quality stuff into the market, and we're offering these different entry points for customers," he said. Bayard said the first design for Walmart, released last year, exceeded sales expectations and was expanded to include four styles this year. The episode highlights one of the major hurdles to bringing back US manufacturing more broadly. The costs of starting (or restarting) industrial production can be both daunting and inefficient. (Look no further than the complicated and expensive process one team had to go through to make a grill scrubber entirely in the US.) If the effort to revive US manufacturing is going to succeed, Bayard said that small and large companies need to work together with sustained, long-term commitments that help the supply chain develop and become more cost-effective. "Poking at the problem with your 500-unit volumes" is "admirable," he said. "But if you actually want to make an impact, get serious about it and figure out ways to join forces with somebody like Walmart that's actually trying to do something good."
