Legislative Hall, the Delaware State Capitol, in Dover, Delaware
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State and local government job growth powered the U.S. labor market’s expansion in June.
Federal data released Thursday shows government jobs saw the largest month-over-month sector growth at 73,000. That means government jobs accounted for about half of the 147,000 total nonfarm payroll growth in June.
“Government at the state and local levels did much of the hiring in June,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate. That helped “the total payrolls number to top expectations.”
Looking under the hood, those increases were concentrated outside of Washington, D.C.
State government payrolls grew by 47,000, while local governments added 33,000 jobs. The bulk of those new jobs on both levels were in education, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.
On the other hand, the federal government payroll shrunk by 7,000 jobs in the month. That’s unsurprising given the continued focus on government efficiency initiatives under President Donald Trump.
To be sure, Bankrate’s Hamrick warned that it would be hard for state and local governments to sustain such strong growth.
Health care and social assistance saw the next biggest monthly growth, adding more than 58,000 positions. Paired with government, the two sectors accounted for nearly nine out of 10 new jobs on balance in June.
Leisure and hospitality and construction were also among industries seeing payrolls expand significantly in the month, according to the BLS data.
But labor force growth was capped by constriction in several sectors. Professional and business services, manufacturing and wholesale trade each lost around 7,000 net jobs in June.
