Jobs report reflects a ‘steady but cautious’ labor market

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 139,000 last month, according to Friday data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.

Employment continued to trend up in healthcare, social assistance and leisure and hospitality, BLS said. The federal government continued to lose jobs.

The report reflects a labor market that is “steady but cautious” in the face of ongoing uncertainty, according to Ger Doyle, regional president, North America at ManpowerGroup. “Employees are staying put, employers are holding steady, and everyone is waiting for clearer signals,” he said in a statement.

The number of jobs added was “decent,” according to Cory Stahle, Indeed Hiring Lab economist, but the market may be softening to the point that “there’s not much room for further slowdown before unemployment meaningfully starts to rise.”

Large downward revisions of prior months’ data also “took some of the shine off of unexpectedly strong data from earlier this year,” Stahle said in a statement. “This isn’t a bad report, per se, but there are clear signs of erosion just below the surface that may not be apparent just by looking only at the headline numbers.”