AP: Job Market Shows ‘Surprising Strength’
However, AP noted that many young people are still finding it tough to get a job.
Jun 08, 2026
Employers added 172,000 jobs in May (which is about double what forecasters had expected) and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported last week. Job growth was down slightly last month from a revised 179,000 in April, the Associated Press reported.
“The American job market continues to show surprising strength… Hiring has bounced back this year from a miserable 2025, showing resilience in the face of economic uncertainty and painfully high energy prices since the Iran war started in late February. The job gains are broad-based. Local governments added 55,000 workers, restaurants and bars 48,000, healthcare companies 35,000,” AP wrote.
“The hiring recession is over. American firms are hiring again,’’ said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “The job rebound is happening in almost every industry ... This is encouraging news for job seekers and for the U.S. economy. The labor market has stabilized and is showing early signs of a genuine rebound.’’
AP noted that many young people are still finding it tough to get a job, and workers who have been laid off have struggled to find another position. Nearly 28% of the unemployed in April had been jobless for more than six months, the largest share since December 2021.
But the labor market “is clearly improving. Last year, employers added just 9,700 jobs a month, the fewest outside of a recession since 2002. Hiring has rebounded, averaging 114,000 new jobs a month so far this year,” the report said.
Friday’s report “really is a positive surprise, particularly given the headwinds from the Iran conflict, which clearly led to much higher energy prices and which are going to act to slow economic activity to some degree,’’ said Ryan Nunn, research director at Yale University’s Budget Lab.
