U.S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June, surpassing the consensus forecast of roughly 110,000 and extending a run of stronger-than-expected monthly gains, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% after holding at 4.2% for two months, signalling labour-market resilience despite elevated borrowing costs and policy uncertainty. Wage pressures eased. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from May and 3.7% from a year earlier, both below economists’ projections. The average workweek shortened by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours, while the labour-force participation rate slipped to 62.3%. Revisions added a net 16,000 jobs to April and May payrolls. Hiring was split almost evenly between the public and private sectors, with government payrolls up 73,000 and private employment increasing by 74,000. State and local governments accounted for the bulk of public-sector growth, offsetting a 7,000-job decline at the federal level. Healthcare, social assistance and construction expanded, but manufacturing shed 7,000 positions. Separate filings show initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 233,000 for the week ended 28 June, while continuing claims held at 1.964 million. The combination of firmer payroll growth and cooling wage inflation prompted traders to scale back bets on a near-term Federal Reserve rate cut; futures now assign only a 5% probability of easing at the 30-31 July meeting.