The U.S. labor market added jobs for the third consecutive month in May, with significant gains in hospitality, construction, and healthcare. Despite a steady unemployment rate of 4.3%, wage growth lagged behind inflation, potentially influencing the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions.
A new report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) reveals that immigrant-founded startups in the US are collectively worth nearly $5 trillion and create an average of 833 jobs per company. Indian immigrants lead in founding billion-dollar startups, with 96 companies.
Private companies added 122,000 workers in May, exceeding expectations and marking the strongest month since January 2025. Job growth was broad-based across sectors and company sizes, signaling a stable labor market ahead of key government reports and Federal Reserve meetings.
Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S. criticized the use of 'AI tokens' as a productivity metric, calling it misleading. He believes companies should focus on outcomes and that AI will create more jobs, reshaping organizational structures by shrinking middle management.
Spain's labor market experienced significant job growth in May, adding 231,975 affiliates to Social Security, the second-best May on record. Unemployment also fell to its lowest level since 2007. The hospitality sector and foreign workers, boosted by migrant regularization, were key drivers of this expansion.
Spain's labor market experienced robust job growth in May, adding 231,975 new affiliates to Social Security, marking the second-best May on record. Unemployment also fell to its lowest level since 2007. The surge was driven by the hospitality sector and a significant increase in foreign workers, potentially reflecting recent migrant regularization efforts.
South Korea added 74,000 jobs in April, the slowest growth in 16 months, with a jobless rate of 2.9% and youth employment rate at 43.7%
The retail trades added nearly 22,000 jobs in April, accounting for about one-fifth of total job growth.
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%, defying Trump's calls for a cut. Officials cited elevated inflation and slow job growth, with all but four of 12 voting members supporting the decision. The Senate banking committee confirmed Kevin Warsh as Fed chair, clearing his path to replace Jerome Powell next month. Warsh is expected to be more amenable to rate cuts than Powell, whose term ends May 15. Brent crude hit $119/barrel amid Middle East uncertainty, while US inflation stands at 3.3% versus the Fed's 2% target.
Federal Reserve economists Leland D. Crane and Paul E. Soto found that U.S. programmer employment growth dropped roughly 50% after ChatGPT launched in November 2022. Before AI, programming jobs grew at ~5% annually; since then, growth has flatlined in IT services and software development sectors. The study estimates ~500,000 jobs that would likely exist without LLMs, though wages haven't declined—only headcount has been affected. This is the first Fed-level research directly linking AI to occupation-specific hiring declines.
