The US economy added just 57,000 nonfarm jobs in June, a significant miss against market expectations and a stark reversal from the robust hiring seen earlier in the year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the figure on Thursday, highlighting a cooling labor market that is likely to accelerate investor bets on interest rate cuts.
The soft print stands in sharp contrast to April, when nonfarm payrolls surged by 115,000, more than doubling the consensus forecast at the time.
That previous strength had signaled resilience in the labor market, but the June data suggests that momentum has stalled.
The unemployment rate was not explicitly detailed in the initial reports, but the headline miss is sufficient to shift the macro narrative toward economic softening.
Markets are reacting swiftly to the disappointment.