U.S. employers added a surprising 172,000 jobs in May as the labor market continued to show resilience in the face of rising costs from the Iran war.

American employers added a better-than-expected 177,000 jobs in April as the job market showed resilience in the face of President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

U.S. employers added solid 151,000 jobs last month, but the outlook is cloudy as President Donald Trump threatens a trade war, purges the federal workforce and promises to deport millions of immigrants.

Macy’s, Target and Dollar General are warning investors their sales will suffer this year as consumers shift spending to essentials.

The Labor Department reported that the third quarter increase in productivity was below the first estimate a month ago of a 4.9% increase. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)WASHINGTON – U.S. productivity in the October-December quarter fell by the largest amount in 39 years as the coronavirus pandemic roiled the labor market. The decline was the biggest quarterly setback since a 5.1% rate of decline in the second quarter of 1981. After falling 0.3% in the first quarter, productivity shot up at a 10.6% rate in the second quarter as millions of people lost their jobs. For all of 2020, productivity rose 2.6%, an improvement from a 1.7% gain in 2019 and an even lower 1.4% increase in 2018.

WASHINGTON – U.S. wholesale prices fell 0.2% in June as food costs dropped sharply, offsetting a big increase in energy prices. Wholesale prices have fallen in four of the past five months. The 0.2% drop in wholesale prices in June reflected a 5.2% decline in food costs which helped to offset a 7.7% jump in energy prices. Over the past year, wholesale prices have fallen 0.8%. Core wholesale prices, which exclude food and energy, were down 0.3% in June and up a tiny 0.1% over the past year.