TED: The Economics Daily

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 2.4 percent for the 12 months ending May 2025, after rising 2.3 percent over the same period in April.

The unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent in May 2025 and has remained in a narrow range of 4.0 percent to 4.2 percent since May 2024. Among the 170.5 million people in the U.S. labor force, 7.2 million were unemployed in May 2025. People are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work. People waiting to be recalled from a temporary layoff are also included as unemployed.

From May 2024 to May 2025, real (adjusted for inflation) average hourly earnings for all employees increased 1.4 percent, seasonally adjusted. The 1.4-percent change in real average hourly earnings combined with no change in the number of hours in the average workweek resulted in a 1.5-percent increase in real average weekly earnings over this period.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 139,000 in May, similar to the average monthly gain of 149,000 over the prior 12 months. In May, employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, and social assistance. Federal government continued to lose jobs.