The United States added 172,000 jobs in May, well above economist projections, and the headline unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 per cent. But behind those figures, a quieter and far more troubling trend has been building for months — one that the top-line numbers do not tell.
The number of people considered long-term unemployed, or people without a job for 27 weeks or longer, rose by 155,000 to nearly 2 million, the highest since December 2021. For the individuals behind that figure, a positive monthly report offers little comfort.
