Employment figures changed little in June, according to the latest figures available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 147,000 people, and the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that the unemployment rate has held steady between 4.0 and 4.2% since May 2024. Most of the increase in June employment in the private sector came from 40,000 new hires in state and local education.
Manufacturing, however, is losing jobs, at a tepid rate that is nevertheless faster than the rest of the economy.
Overall, manufacturing lost 7,000 jobs last month. June job losses in manufacturing were mostly proportional to the size of their industry, with durable goods manufacturing shedding 5,000 jobs and nondurable goods shedding the remaining 2,000.
Computer and electronic product manufacturing lost just under 5,000 jobs itself, while primary metal manufacturing and fabricated metal product manufacturing both lost half a thousand jobs and 1.5 thousand jobs, respectively.
In nondurable goods industries, food manufacturing and plastics and rubber product companies each lost just over 3,000 jobs, but those losses were offset by gains in other industries, especially an increase of 2,000 new jobs in paper manufacturing.
Durable and nondurable goods manufacturing have lost more net jobs than any other BLS-tracked sector on 1-month, 3-month, and 12-month basis. (On a 6-month basis, professional and business services lost 11,000 jobs to manufacturing’s 10,000.) In June, manufacturing lost a total of 7,000 jobs: the next-biggest loser, wholesale trade, lost 6,600. Compared to 3 months ago, manufacturing has lost 14,000 jobs: of other industry groups, only mining and logging lost employment over the same time frame, and lost only 3,000.
And compared to June 2024, manufacturing has lost a net 89,000 jobs. Professional and business service companies, which otherwise lost the most jobs, dropped 36,000 jobs in the same period.
In a statement, Secretary of Labor Chavez-DeRemer said June’s job growth numbers were “strong,” crediting President Trump’s “bold America First agenda” and promising “more on the way as businesses bring production back home.”
Wages in manufacturing declined on average. The average manufacturing wage in June 2025 was $35.19 an hour or $1,411.12 a week, $1.11/hour or $169.66/week less than the average private-sector wage. The mean wage in durable goods fell by 10 cents to $37.28, and the mean nondurable goods wage increased by 5 cents to $31.67.
