Jonathan Levin, Columnist

The Job Market Is Humming? Surely This Isn’t as Good as It Gets

The labor market is discouraging more and more workers. Immigrants and young grads may be stepping away.

July 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM UTC

Jonathan Levin is a columnist focused on US markets and economics. Previously, he worked as a Bloomberg journalist in the US, Brazil and Mexico. He is a CFA charterholder.

Job hunt.
Photographer: Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg

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US joblessness remains extraordinarily low, and that’s worth celebrating this Fourth of July. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Thursday showed that the unemployment rate slipped to 4.1% in June from 4.2% a month earlier, a number that economists have long considered just about as good as it gets. That’s led investors to cut the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will move to lower policy rates in the coming months.

I’m glad that the labor market is holding up, but this economy still needs a bit of the central bank’s medicine to keep on truckin’ — and it needs it sooner rather than later.