U.S. employers added a surprising 172,000 jobs in May as the labor market continued to show resilience in the face of rising costs from the Iran war. The Labor Department reported Friday that job growth was down slightly last month from a revised 179,000 in April. The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.3%. The job market has been recovering this year from a miserable 2025, so far shrugging off higher energy prices and increased economic uncertainty since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February.

The rise of remote work since the pandemic has made businesses more reluctant to hire young, inexperienced workers and is the key driver of higher unemployment rates for recent college graduates, a study released Monday has found. The study concludes that businesses are reluctant to hire new college grads into remote work because it is harder to train and mentor them when they are working remotely. The authors of the study calculate that remote work is responsible for nearly two-thirds of the rise in the unemployment rate for young college graduates since the pandemic.

NEW YORK — Before the house is humming and her teenagers ask her to whip up breakfast or chauffeur them to school, Jen Meegan reads her compan…

American employers added a surprisingly strong 178,000 new jobs last month, rebounding from a dismal February. And the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%. The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring marked a rebound from the loss of 133,000 jobs in February. The job gains were about three times what economists had forecast. The unemployment rate was down from 4.4% in February. But uncertainty surrounding the war with Iran — and its impact on energy prices — is clouding the outlook for the labor market.

American employers unexpectedly cut 92,000 jobs last month, a sign that the labor market remains under strain. The unemployment rate blipped up to 4.4%. The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring deteriorated from January, when companies, nonprofits and government agencies added a healthy 126,000 jobs. Economists had expected 60,000 new jobs in February. Revisions also cut 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls. The surprisingly weak employment picture in February adds to the economic uncertainty over the war with Iran, which has caused oil prices to surge and saddled business and consumers with unforeseen costs.