06/08/2026
National Urban League recently provided a National Economic Outlook for June 2026. Please check out the report below.
Employment grew 172 million in May; the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3 percent. Most employment growth was in healthcare and the leisure hospitality industries, a pattern of employment growth observed through most of the last two years. Employment declined mostly in retail trade, perhaps reflecting a decline in consumer spending in response to the high rate of inflation. That might also explain the employment decline in airline employment; a number of airlines cancelled flights as fuel costs increased in response to the Iran war.
Demographically, both Black and White employment grew while unemployment declined. The Hispanic unemployment rate, 5.0 percent, is settled between the Black and White jobless rates. That is generated by the distribution of the Hispanic workforce in industries with a different growth profile than industries in which the Black and White workforces are employed, for example, agriculture, and the low wage, high turnover service sector.
Wages grew 3.8 percent year/year, about the same rate as the consumer price index. Hours of work remained unchanged at 34 per week. The Black/White unemployment disparity is down to 1.74, markedly below the previously persistent 2:1 ratio. The labor market is slowly moving toward a new normal of equal employment opportunity. That goal is far from being fully achieved, but employment is trending in the right direction.
The Numbers (K=1,000)(M=million)
Employment : + 172 million
Unemployment rate: 4.3 %, no change
Labor force participation rate: 61.8%
Employment population rate: 59.2 %
Long run unemployment: 1.985 million
Industry employment
Health care +35K, Hospitals + 6 K
Manufacturing: 12,605 million; + 7 K
Construction: 8,337 million.;+ 17 K
Finance: 9,104 million; - 22 K
Local government: 55 M;+ 11K
Retail:15,457 million;- 11 K
Leisure/hospitality: 17,079 million;+70 K
Air transportation: -6 K
Little change in other major industries.
Black employment: 20,543M;+111K
Unemployed:6,600 M;+ 16 K
U R 3.8 %
Black/White ratio: 1.74
Hispanic employed: 33,697 M
Unemployed: 1,778 M
U R 5.0 %
Average week earnings:$1,287
Average week hours: 34
Report created by Bernard E. Anderson, Ph. D., Whitney M. Young, Jr. Professor Emeritus, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Senior Economic Advisor, National Urban League
