 But the number of jobs reported for April and May were revised lower by 111,000. So taken together, this represents a slight softening of the tight labor market. The average monthly payroll growth this year has been 222,000 compared to 251,000 last year and 377,000 in 2022. The BLS also reported the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in June, the highest level since November 2021.