This week will bring a fresh batch of data on the current state of the job market, from April’s job openings and layoffs report on Tuesday to May’s closely watched payroll and unemployment report on Friday.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg anticipate signs of relative health, estimating a gain of 85,000 jobs last month and an unchanged unemployment rate at 4.3%. If that prediction holds, May would be the third consecutive month of positive payroll growth.

That’s an improvement from late 2025, when economists were watching the labor market apprehensively as the country added virtually no jobs. Now, their attention is instead shifting to concerns about rising prices, which are eating away at workers’ pay gains and tanking consumer sentiment.

These days, the economy seems to be creating more than enough positions needed to sustain “breakeven” employment growth, or the number necessary to keep the jobless rate steady. As immigration levels slide and the workforce ages, that number may be anywhere from 15,000 to 87,000 roles, by one estimate, which helps explain why job growth can be very low relative to levels seen just a few years ago.

Here’s the jobs data schedule for this week:

April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS): June 2, 10 a.m. ET

May ADP National Employment Report: June 3, 8:15 a.m. ET

May Challenger Report on layoff announcements: June 4, 5:30 a.m. ET

May Employment Situation Report: June 5, 8:30 a.m. ET

On paper, the job market appears to be holding up. The unemployment rate of 4.3% is below the 10-year average, and the April jobs report showed surprisingly strong job growth.

Yet, many Americans report that it’s difficult to find a job. So what’s behind the disconnect?

CNN reports that many of the challenges job seekers face today stem from a yearslong decline in job openings, which has intensified competition for available roles. Here’s what else is going on in the labor market:

New opportunities aren’t universal: In April, half of the new jobs created came from healthcare, while the other half came from retail, and transportation and warehousing.

DOGE layoff effect still being felt: Since reaching peak levels in 2024, federal employment is down by nearly 350,000 as of April, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

AI is intensifying the competition: AI is reshaping the job market, from reducing the number of open roles in some industries to changing how candidates search and apply for positions.

Mid-to-late-career hurdles: Four years ago, laid-off workers 45 to 54 years old were unemployed for an average of 27.1 weeks, compared to the current average of 30.7 weeks, according to the BLS. Those rates have also climbed for people 55+.

Read more here.

Salaried workers’ pay growth has outpaced gains among hourly earners in the past year, with advertised wages declining outright among hourly workers in IT, software development, and other STEM fields, according to a new analysis from the Indeed Hiring Lab.

The analysis drew on pay information across millions of job postings from the beginning of 2025 through early 2026, finding that posted wages for salaried roles grew 2.9% while advertised pay for their hourly counterparts rose only 1.7%.

The wage growth gap between hourly earners and salaried workers, who already tend to be in higher-income positions and receive workplace benefits, is all the more important as rising consumer prices climb past workers’ pay gains. Prices in April surged by 3.8% compared to a year earlier — largely thanks to rising energy costs — while average hourly earnings rose just 3.6%.

Read more here.

The government’s jobs report on Friday will cap a week of economic data, providing investors with an up-to-date read on the health of the labor market. Here’s what economists surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting:

Tuesday

April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)

Job openings: 6.89 million expected, 6.87 million previously

Quits rate: +2% previously

Layoffs rate: +1.2% previously

Wednesday

May ADP employment change: +120,000 expected, +109,000 previously

Thursday

May Challenger report on job cuts: -20.9% year over year previously

Final reading of first quarter nonfarm productivity: +0.7% expected, +0.8% previously

Initial jobless claims for the week ended May 30: 215,000 previously

Continuing claims for the week ended May 23: 1.786 million previously

Friday

The Labor Department’s May employment report:

Change in nonfarm payrolls: +93,000 expected, +115,000 previously

Change in private payrolls: +100,000 expected, +123,000 previously

Change in manufacturing payrolls: +4,000 expected, -2,000 previously

Average hourly earnings, month over month: +0.3% expected, +0.2% previously

Average hourly earnings, year over year: +3.4% expected, +3.6% previously

Unemployment rate: 4.3% expected, 4.3% previously

Read more here.