The manufacturing industry added 3,000 jobs in June, a small improvement from May, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released July 2.
Year over year, that’s about a 120% increase, which showed 15,000 job cuts in June 2025. Meanwhile, adjusted data shows 2,000 jobs were lost in May. The BLS initially reported 7,000 jobs were added.
In general, 57,000 jobs were added across all U.S. industries, the BLS reported.
Monthly job additions and losses from January 2025 to June 2026
The latest employment data mirrors data from the Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index June report. The employment index remained in contraction, registering at 49.7%, up 1.1 percentage points from May’s figure of 48.6%, according to the ISM. An employment index registering above 50.3% over time is generally consistent with increases in BLS manufacturing employment data, per the ISM.
The employment index is “a bright spot”, despite remaining in contraction, Susan Spence, chair of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said during a media call last week.
“Last month, for every person hiring, there was a person that wasn’t,” Spence said. “This month seems to have turned around [with] 1.8 people to one positive to negative comments on employment.”
S&P Global’s U.S. Flash report, released June 23, painted a slightly different picture. The report showed that employment fell for a second month in June, as companies continue to focus on cutting costs due to high input prices and outlook concerns “relating to the ongoing impact of the war in the Middle East and government policies such as tariffs.”
“Factory job cuts are running at the highest since 2009 if the pandemic is excluded, reflecting concerns over the sustainability of the recent upturn in demand alongside worries over the escalating cost of raw materials,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement. “However, while still running at one of the highest rates seen over the past four years, input cost inflation has shown sign of cooling in June thanks in part to the lower energy prices seen at the tail end of the survey data collection period.”
Manufacturing sectors that added or lost jobs in June 2026
Manufacturing unemployment increased by more than 1% to 550,000 workers in June, up from 544,000 a year ago.
“Manufacturing jobs are still treading water amid waves of uncertainty,” Scott Paul, president of Alliance for American Manufacturing, said in a statement. “Will interest rates be hiked? What tariffs will get locked into place, and when? Will there be energy cost shocks as a result of continued hostilities with Iran? All of this weighs on hiring decisions. I believe additional strategic tariffs based on industrial overcapacity are still warranted, but the sooner manufacturing knows the playing field, the better.”
Openings, layoffs, turnovers and separations
May job openings in the manufacturing industry increased about 32% to 529,000 compared with the same period last year, according to BLS’ job openings and labor turnover survey data released June 30.
Separations decreased by nearly 2.5% YoY to 277,000. According to the BLS, there were 180,000 quits and 77,000 layoffs and discharges. Other separations, which factor in retirement, death, disability and transfers within a company, decreased about 21% to 19,000.
Additionally, revised data from March 2026’s JOLT report now show 496,000 openings, 288,000 hires and 278,000 separations.
