US job growth slows in May; unemployment rate steady at 4.2%
[WASHINGTON] US job growth slowed in May amid headwinds from tariff uncertainty, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 per cent, potentially giving the Federal Reserve cover to delay resuming interest rate cuts for a while.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 139,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 147,000 in April, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its closely watched employment report on Friday (Jun 6).
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 130,000 jobs added after a previously reported 177,000 rise in April. Estimates ranged from 75,000 to 190,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 4.2 per cent for the third straight month.
The economy needs to create roughly 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working age population. That number could decline as President Donald Trump has revoked the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants amid an immigration crackdown.
Much of the job growth this year reflects worker hoarding by businesses amid Trump's flip-flopping on tariffs, which economists say has hampered companies' ability to plan ahead. Opposition to Trump's tax-cut and spending bill from hardline conservative Republicans in the US Senate and billionaire Elon Musk adds another layer of uncertainty for businesses.
Employers' reluctance to lay off workers potentially keeps the US central bank on the sidelines until the end of the year. Financial markets expect the Fed will leave its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 4.25 to 4.5 per cent range this month, before resuming policy easing in September. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
26 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump says he has no plans to speak to Musk as feud persists
President Donald Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Mr Elon Musk's electric cars on the White House lawn. PHOTO: DOUG MILLS/NYTIMES Trump says he has no plans to speak to Musk as feud persists WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on June 6 that he has no plans to speak with Mr Elon Musk, signalling the president and his former ally might not resolve their feud over a sweeping tax-cut Bill any time soon. Addressing reporters aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump said he wasn't 'thinking about' the Tesla CEO. 'I hope he does well with Tesla,' Mr Trump said. However, Mr Trump said a review of Mr Musk's extensive contracts with the federal government was in order. 'We'll take a look at everything,' the president said. 'It's a lot of money.' Mr Trump may get rid of the red Tesla Model S that he bought in March after showcasing Mr Musk's electric cars on the White House lawn, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Earlier on June 6, Mr Trump said that Mr Elon Musk had 'lost his mind' but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Mr Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Mr Musk, adding that he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to the tycoon. Mr Trump later told Fox News that Mr Musk had 'lost it,' while CNN quoted the president as saying: 'I'm not even thinking about poor guy's got a problem.' Mr Musk, for his part, did not directly address Mr Trump but kept up his criticism of the massive Republican tax and spending Bill that contains much of Mr Trump's domestic agenda. On his social-media platform X, Mr Musk amplified remarks made by others that Mr Trump's 'big beautiful Bill' would hurt Republicans politically and add to the nation's US$36.2 trillion (S$46.6 trillion) debt. He replied 'exactly' to a post by another X user that said Mr Musk had criticised Congress and Mr Trump had responded by criticising Mr Musk personally. Mr Musk also declared it was time for a new political party in the United States 'to represent the 80 per cent in the middle!' People who have spoken to Mr Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they think he will want to repair his relationship with Mr Trump, according to one person who has spoken to Mr Musk's entourage. The White House statements came one day after the two men battled openly in an extraordinary display of hostilities that marked a stark end to a close alliance. Tesla stock rose on June 6, clawing back some losses from the June 5 session, when it dropped 14 per cent and lost US$150 billion in value, the largest single-day decline in the company's history. Mr Musk's high-profile allies have largely stayed silent during the feud. But one, investor James Fishback, called on Mr Musk to apologise. 'President Trump has shown grace and patience at a time when Elon's behaviour is disappointing and frankly downright disturbing,' Mr Fishback said in a statement. Mr Musk, the world's richest man, bankrolled a large part of Mr Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Mr Trump named Mr Musk to head a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Mr Trump feted Mr Musk at the White House a week ago as he wrapped up his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Mr Musk cut only about half of 1 per cent of total spending, far short of his brash plans to axe US$2 trillion from the federal budget. Since then, Mr Musk has denounced Mr Trump's tax-cut and spending Bill as a 'disgusting abomination'. His opposition is complicating efforts to pass the Bill in Congress where Republicans hold a slim majority. Mr Trump's Bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives in May and is now before the Senate, where Republicans say they will make further changes. Nonpartisan analysts say the measure would add US$2.4 trillion in debt over 10 years. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he has been texting with Mr Musk and hopes the dispute is resolved quickly. 'I don't argue with him about how to build rockets and I wish he wouldn't argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it,' Mr Johnson said on CNBC. 'Very disappointed' Mr Trump had initially stayed quiet while Mr Musk campaigned to torpedo the Bill, but broke his silence on June 5, telling reporters he was 'very disappointed' in Mr Musk. Mr Musk, who spent nearly US$300 million in the 2024 elections, said Mr Trump would have lost without his support and suggested he should be impeached. Mr Trump suggested he would terminate government contracts with Mr Musk's businesses, which include rocket company SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink. The billionaire then threatened to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the only US spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station. Mr Musk later backed off that threat. Mr Musk had been angered when Mr Trump over the weekend revoked his nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to head the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Two sources with direct knowledge of the dispute said White House personnel director Sergio Gor had helped turn Mr Trump against Mr Isaacman by highlighting his past donations to Democrats. Mr Musk and Mr Gor had been at odds since the billionaire criticised Mr Gor's pace of hiring at a March Cabinet meeting, the two sources said. A White House spokesperson, Mr Steven Cheung, praised Mr Gor's efforts to staff the administration but did not address his relationship with Mr Musk. A prolonged feud could make it harder for Republicans to keep control of Congress in next year's midterm elections if Mr Musk withholds financial support or other major Silicon Valley business leaders distance themselves from Mr Trump. Mr Musk had already said he planned to curtail his political spending, and on June 3 he called for 'all politicians who betrayed the American people' to be fired in 2026. His involvement with the Trump administration has provoked widespread protests at Tesla sites, driving down sales while investors fretted that Mr Musk's attention was too divided. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
US, China to hold trade talks on Jun 9 in London, Trump says
WASHINGTON: Three of President Donald Trump's top aides will face their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday (Jun 9) for talks to resolve a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies that has kept global markets on edge. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will represent Washington in the talks, said Trump, who announced the talks in a post on his Truth Social platform but provided no more details. It was not immediately clear who would represent China. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more details. "The meeting should go very well," Trump wrote. Trump also said on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets to the US. Asked directly by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether Xi had agreed to do so, Trump replied: "Yes, he did." He added: "We're very far advanced on the China deal. The scheduling of the meeting comes a day after Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a rare leader-to-leader call amid weeks of brewing trade tensions and a battle over critical minerals. Trump and Xi agreed to visit one another and asked their staffs to hold talks in the meantime. Both countries are under pressure to relieve tensions, with the global economy under pressure over Chinese control over the rare earth mineral exports of which it is the dominant producer and investors more broadly anxious about Trump's wider effort to impose tariffs on goods from most US trading partners. China, meanwhile, has seen its own supply of key US imports like chip-design software and nuclear plant parts curtailed. The countries struck a 90-day deal on May 12 in Geneva to roll back some of the triple-digit, tit-for-tat tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump's January inauguration. That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 stock index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18 percent after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2 percent below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva. Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and US complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives. Beijing sees mineral exports as a source of leverage, halting those exports could put domestic political pressure on the Republican US president if economic growth sags because companies cannot make mineral-powered products. In recent years, the United States has identified China as its top geopolitical rival and the only country in the world able to challenge the US economically and militarily.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
Trump says Musk has ‘lost his mind' as feud fallout mounts
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Elon Musk had 'lost his mind' but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. The blistering public break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful is fraught with political and economic risks all round. Trump had scrapped the idea of a call with Musk and was even thinking of ditching the red Tesla he bought at the height of their bromance, White House officials told AFP. But Trump told US broadcasters that he now wanted to focus instead on passing his 'big, beautiful' mega-bill -- Musk's harsh criticism of which had sparked their break-up. But the 78-year-old Republican could not stop himself from taking aim at his South African-born friend-turned-enemy. 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Musk, adding that he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to the tycoon. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Trump later told Fox News that Musk had 'lost it,' while CNN quoted the president as saying: 'I'm not even thinking about poor guy's got a problem.' Just a week ago Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after four months working there. 'Very disappointed' But while there had been reports of tensions, the sheer speed at which their relationship imploded stunned Washington. After Musk called Trump's spending bill an 'abomination' on Tuesday, Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe on Thursday in which he said he was 'very disappointed' by the tycoon. Trump's spending bill faces a difficult path through Congress as it will raise the US deficit, while critics say it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump hit back with the power of the US government behind him, saying he could cancel the Space X boss's multi-billion-dollar rocket and satellite contracts. The right-wing tech baron apparently tried to deescalate. Musk rowed back on a threat to scrap his company's Dragon spacecraft - vital for ferrying Nasa astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And on Friday the usually garrulous poster kept a low social media profile on his X social network. But the White House denied reports that they would talk. 'The president does not intend to speak to Musk today,' a senior White House official told AFP. A second official said Musk had requested a call. Tesla giveaway? Tesla stocks tanked more than 14 per cent on Thursday amid the row, losing some US$100 billion of the company's market value, but recovering partly on Friday. Trump is now considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk's firm in March. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. 'He's thinking about it, yes,' a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give it away. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk's Doge role. But while Trump appeared to have many of the cards in their row, Musk also has some to play. His wealth allowed him to be Trump's biggest donor to his 2024 campaign, to the tune of nearly US$300 million. Any further support for the 2026 midterms now appears in doubt - while Musk could also use his money to undermine Trump's support on the right. AFP
