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The U.S. economy added 139,000 jobs in May, but revisions brought the April and March jobs numbers some 95,000 jobs lower, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The initial report of 139,000 new jobs topped economistsʻ estimates of 125,000, however, jobs numbers have been revised significantly lower the past few months, so it is unclear if that beat will hold.

In April, 177,000 new jobs were added according to the initial report, but that was revised down by 30,000 to 147,000. That is still more than the 133,000 that were expected for April, but that number could be revised lower again.

In March, initial reports said that 228,000 new jobs were created, but that has now been revised down twice. The numbers were revised down to 185,000 last month, and in this May report, it was reduced by another 65,000. So now the March jobs numbers are just 120,000, below initial estimates of 140,000. Overall, the March jobs numbers have been reduced by more than 100,000 — from 228,000 to 120,000 — over the past two months.

The BLS jobs report follows the ADP National Employment Report for May, which showed that only 37,000 private sector jobs were created in May, the lowest monthly total in two years.

Unemployment rate stays at 4.2%

The unemployment rate for May held at 4.2%, the same as April. This was in line with estimates.

The health care sector added 62,000 jobs in May, which is higher than the average monthly gain of 44,000 over the past 12 months. Most of the gains came in hospitals, which added 30,000 jobs, and ambulatory health care services, which added 29,000.

Also, employment in leisure and hospitality remains strong, as the industry added 48,000 jobs, with about 30,000 coming from food services and drinking places. In addition, social assistance employment rose by 16,000. Further, the financial sector added 13,000 jobs and private educational services gained 9,000.

On the downside, the federal government shed 22,000 jobs, while professional business services lost 18,000 positions. Further, manufacturing lost 8,000 jobs while retail trade employment fell by 6,500. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; nondurable foods; transportation and warehousing; and information showed little change.

“Once again markets are celebrating a “strong” May jobs report, with 139K jobs beating estimates by 10K, while ignoring the 95K downward revisions to the prior two months,” Peter Schiff, chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, wrote in a post on X. “But beneath the surface, the May jobs report, which showed even slower job growth than the prior month, was even weaker. Healthcare added 60K and Leisure & hospitality added 48K, while manufacturing lost 8K. Adding jobs in non-productive sectors of the economy, while losing jobs in the productive sector, means more upward pressure on consumer prices and trade deficits, as hospital workers and waitresses spend money buying goods they did not help produce.”

Average hourly wages rose by 15 cents, or 0.4%, to $36.24 last month, topping estimates of 0.3% growth. Average hourly earnings have increased by 3.9% over the past 12 months, which is better than the 3.7% estimate.

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