Economist Mark Zandi argued that the June employment report painted an overly optimistic picture of the U.S. labor market, saying several underlying indicators point to a much weaker economy than the headline figures suggest.
Zandi Flags Weakness In June Jobs Report On Sunday, in a series of posts on X, Zandi said commentary surrounding the June jobs report was "much too dismissive of how weak the numbers looked, all the noise in the data notwithstanding." I was away last week and didn’t have a chance to weigh in on the June employment report.
But even though belated, I can’t help myself, as I thought the commentary was much too dismissive of how weak the numbers looked, all the noise in the data notwithstanding.— Mark Zandi (@Markzandi) July 12, 2026 Zandi noted that payroll employment posted only a modest gain in June, while prior months’ job gains were revised downward.
He also said most of the hiring came from the healthcare sector rather than being broadly distributed across the economy.
"Not only did employment as measured by the payroll survey post a small gain in the month, but previous month’s gains were revised much lower, and the bulk of the job gains were in healthcare," Zandi wrote.
