The biggest industry winners, losers after key labor data report

00:00 Speaker A

The bay jobs report showing 139,000 jobs added with unemployment holding steady at 4.2%. Our very own Alexandra Canal joining us now for a deeper dive into some of the numbers. Hey Alex.

00:12 Alexandra Canal

Hi Brad, yes, well, I want to start with government jobs, particularly federal employment. All eyes are on those layoffs from the Department of government efficiency, otherwise known as Doge. And for the month of May, we did see federal employment continue to decline down 22,000 since January. That sector of jobs down by 59,000. Again, as a reminder, employees who are on paid leave, or they’re receiving ongoing severance, they are counted as employed in this establishment survey. So possibly, we are going to see more pain to come over the coming months and into the fall. And that’s something that economists have been saying to us. And also economists have been telling us that federal spending cuts might have spillover effects into other sectors of the economy, such as state and local government employment in education, along with health care. But so far, we are not seeing that materialize. And I want to talk about health care because added 62,000 jobs in May, higher than the average monthly gain that we’ve seen over the past year. The bulk of those gains concentrated in hospitals, leisure and hospitality, also a standout here. Significant move to the upside, 48,000 jobs added, more than double its average monthly gain. This was largely in food services and drinking places. And with the summer season fast approaching, it’s not totally a surprise that we saw that upward trend there. But I am curious if we see a consumer that potentially pulls back on their discretionary spend, maybe they don’t go out, dine out as often, how that potentially could trickle through into the employment situation there. But so far, not seeing that just yet. And then finally, I do want to end on manufacturing, pretty much little change there. We saw a decline of 8,000 jobs. That was a bit more significant than what we saw in April, when employment in manufacturing declined by 1,000. Tariffs are something that could significantly weigh on the manufacturing sector. And we could see that in upcoming reports. And we know that June report is going to be coming at a time when potentially we could see the Trump tax bill be signed into Congress. We could also potentially have those reciprocal tariffs in play. So a lot to come in the months ahead. But so far this report showing that we have a pretty stable labor market right now.