What were the employment trends in May 2025?
The May jobs report showed ongoing payroll job growth, with a net 139,000 jobs added by employers in the month, down modestly from the 149,000 added over the prior 12 months. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. Recession concerns have grown among recent home shoppers on Realtor.com, mirroring broader economic uncertainty among consumers. But the jobs data is expected to signal a fairly steady jobs market. Wage growth, which was steady in April at 3.8%, ticked up to 3.9%, which continues to outpace inflation, boosting real consumer buying power.
What else do we know about today’s job market?
Earlier this week, the job openings and labor turnover report showed mixed trends. In April, we saw the number of job openings and rate tick slightly higher despite a general downward trend. Job openings totaled nearly 7.4 million, up from the prior month (7.2M) but lower than the prior year (7.6M). Job quits, which can be a gauge of worker confidence, fell to 3.2 million in April from 3.3 million in March and 3.4 million one year prior. The job quits rate of 2.0% is fairly consistent with where it’s hovered in the last 12 months (2.0% +/- 0.1%).
What does today’s data mean for homebuyers, sellers, and the housing market?
In Realtor.com housing data, we saw housing hit a key milestone in May, with more than 1 million homes for sale, a first since 2019. Digging into local trends, we see how important construction has been. Areas where there has been more homebuilding have generally seen a stronger recovery in homes for sale. At the same time, the data show that affordability continues to be a challenge. Even though asking prices were essentially flat, a rising share of listings with price cuts suggest that some sellers are struggling to find buyers at their initial price. In order to make headway on the affordability challenge, we need to see both more homebuilding at the right price points, in the right areas and a solid labor market that will enable wages to catch up.
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