3 min readUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 11:13 PM IST The US economy added more jobs than expected in May, suggesting the labour market remains resilient despite uncertainty caused by rising geopolitical tensions and higher oil prices. According to the US Labour Department, employers added 172,000 jobs in May after adding 179,000 in April, far above economists’ expectations of around 85,000 new jobs. How many jobs does the US actually need? Eonomists believe that the US economy needs to add between zero and 50,000 jobs every month to keep up with the expanding workforce. The fact that May’s numbers came in at over three times that baseline is being seen as a positive sign. However, the baseline number itself has dropped. One of the reasons behind this drop was the US government’s crackdown on immigration, which reduced the number of people entering the workforce. This has also made the unemployment rate considerably stable, with it being at 4.3% for three months in a row. Companies holding onto people – and not hiring aggressively While the number …