Flash Report: May Unemployment, Job Gains Signal Steady Labor Market
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The headline U.S. unemployment rate in May was 4.3%, where it has been since March. More precise data show the rate fell slightly to 4.296% in May from 4.337% in April.
- The number of people losing or leaving jobs, finding jobs from unemployment, entering the labor force, or walking away from the workforce altogether changed little in May.
- The unemployment rate has been broadly stable over the past year, and the labor market continues to show resiliency.
Unemployment
May 2026
4.296%
Precise Rate
Unemployment was again essentially flat in May, with last month’s headline rate remaining at its March and April levels of 4.3%. (See the FRED chart above.) After an uptick last summer and fall, unemployment has returned to its May 2025 reading.
Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 172,000 jobs in May, coming in well above market expectations. In addition, job gains in March were revised upward by 29,000 (from 185,000 to 214,000) and job gains in April were revised upward by 64,000 (from 115,000 to 179,000). Taken together, these indicators point to a resilient labor market. However, the labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio remain notably below their year-ago levels.
Next, the analysis takes a deeper look at how estimated flows into and out of unemployment during May affected the overall unemployment rate.
DATA HIGHLIGHTS
- The unrounded unemployment rate changed slightly in May, declining just 0.04 percentage points from April.
- Flows into and out of unemployment—i.e., people getting jobs, job separations, and labor force transitions—remained near their recent averages.
| Average Monthly Change in Unemployment Rate (Percentage Points) |
People Losing or Leaving Their Jobs and Becoming Unemployed |
Unemployed People Finding Jobs |
People Previously Not in the Labor Force Who Are Now Seeking Work |
Unemployed Workers Leaving the Labor Force (e.g. Discouraged Workers) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | -0.04 | +0.86 | -1.08 | +1.12 | -0.95 |
| Last 3 Months | -0.05 | +0.89 | -1.07 | +1.12 | -1.00 |
| Last 12 Months | -0.01 | +0.94 | -1.08 | +1.12 | -1.00 |
| SOURCES: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Research staff’s calculations. | |||||
| NOTES: Average changes over the last 12 months exclude October and November, for which data were unavailable. Data are seasonally adjusted. The overall change is based on the precise unemployment rate for these periods; for example, the unemployment rates were 4.2963% in May and 4.3372% in April. The flow components into and out of unemployment add up to the change in unemployment with a negligible residual. See Maximiliano Dvorkin and Serdar Ozkan’s St. Louis Fed On the Economy blog post “The Recent Ins and Outs of Unemployment: Using Flows to Study Labor Market Dynamics” for more information about this method. | |||||
Like the headline rate, the more precise unemployment rate remained stable in May, ticking down 0.04 percentage points. (See the table above.) Unemployment flows—workers finding jobs, workers losing or leaving their jobs and becoming unemployed, people entering the labor force to seek work, and discouraged workers exiting the labor force—moved little last month, staying close to their recent averages and providing further evidence of a steady labor market.
Citation
ldquoFlash Report: May Unemployment, Job Gains Signal Steady Labor Market,rdquo St. Louis Fed On the Economy, June 5, 2026.
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