Number of unemployed Americans rises for fourth straight month, the longest streak since 2009
A May jobs report that ticked all the boxes at the surface level — better-than-expected job growth with the unemployment rate holding steady — is propelling stocks higher this morning, but really wasn’t as strong as the headlines make it out to be.
Bloomberg US economy editor Matt Boesler flagged this disturbing tidbit that clashes with the ho-hum nature of the report:
The number of unemployed Americans has been climbing for four straight months, the longest such streak since 2009 during the deep recession that accompanied the global financial crisis.
This persistent climb in the ranks of unemployed Americans occurred amid a record shift from those who had jobs in April but are now completely out of the labor force in May, per Inflation Insights founder Omair Sharif, which may be a statistical anomaly or a function of changes to immigration policy.
There was a record exodus from the workforce. The # who were employed in Apr but classified as "not in the labor force" in May surged by 917k. Outside of spring 2020, that's a record. Jun data may clear up if it's noise or perhaps some fallout of immigration policy. pic.twitter.com/7R0NHOZtf9
— Omair Sharif (@fcastofthemonth) June 6, 2025