The job market slowed down a bit in June, with 209,000 jobs added

• The US jobs market saw less jobs added in June than in May.
• The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% in May to 3.6% in June.

After a hot labor market in May, hiring drastically slowed in June, according to new data out Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There were 209,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added in June, less than the forecast of 225,000. June's job creation was not as great as the prior month's. May's hot job growth was revised from 339,000 to 306,000. April's growth saw another revision, from 294,000 to 217,000 per the latest news release.

A few major industries lost jobs from May to June, including retail trade which saw a 11,200 drop. Meanwhile, "employment in government, health care, social assistance, and construction continued to trend up," according to the release. For instance, employment in construction rose by 23,000.

After the unemployment rate soared from 3.4% in April to 3.7% in May, the rate dropped. June's unemployment rate was 3.6%, equivalent to the forecast of 3.6%.

"The unemployment rate has been relatively steady over the past year or so, but we are seeing more and more people actually get jobs as they come off the sidelines," Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told Insider.

"The June jobs report will essentially 'close the book' on the job market for the first half of the year, leaving aside future revisions of the data," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate said ahead of Friday's report. "With everything that's been thrown at the economy, it is remarkable that jobs creation has been as solid as it has been, and that the nation's unemployment rate remains so low. But it has not been without pain, given surging job cuts."

Labor force participation stubbornly held steady at 62.6% in June, the fourth-straight month at that rate. However, the prime-age labor force participation rate, or the share of those aged 25 to 54 working or looking for work, was 83.5%, a slight uptick from 83.4% the previous month. The prime-age employment-population ratio, or the share of people in that age range with a job, rose from 80.7% to 80.9%. June's ratio is the highest since April 2001.

Average hourly earnings increased from $33.46 in May to $33.58 in June, or a month-over-month increase of 0.4%. Earnings were up by 4.4% year-over-year. The percent change in average hourly earnings from a year ago is below its post-reopening high but has plateaued in recent months.

"I think we are continuing to head toward a more sustainable form of growth, a more sustainable source of strength in the US labor market, which hopefully provides a solid foundation for the US economy overall," Bunker said.

Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told Insider that Friday's report was solid, yet "it did not deliver the heat I was expecting to see" despite what's going on in the economy and day-to-day life, such as people heading to concerts, "the recent rebound in consumer confidence and the massive lines at airports."

Cooler job growth in June was just one of five signs she pointed out that show that "labor market conditions are slacking a bit" and may be hard for people to find desired employment. The 452,000-gain in the number of employed people who are working part time because of economic-related reasons was another sign.

The increase in the Black unemployment rate from 5.6% to 6.0% was another sign. Pollak said "often Black workers are the first to lose jobs when demand for workers cools."

One strong point in Friday's report was the prime-age employment-population ratio for women soared to the highest ratio in the series for this group, Pollak pointed out. The ratio was 75.3% in June.

"Women are still doing remarkably well," she said. "They're sort of outperforming men in the labor market. That was the trend before the pandemic. It's continuing."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published new job openings and quits data on Thursday. Job openings tumbled from 10.3 million in April to 9.8 million in May, the most recent month of data. The rate for layoffs and discharges stayed the same low rate of 1.0% in May. While monthly quits had been just below 4 million each month from January to April, quits increased by 250,000 to 4.0 million in May.

"Rumors of the Great Resignation's demise were greatly exaggerated, at least for now," Bunker said in a statement after Thursday's data release.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.