Broadcasting Jobs Hold Steady As U.S. Labor Market Stays Strong.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there was a small dip in the total number of Americans working in broadcasting last month, but the numbers continue to bounce around in a small range in 2025 pointing to a sector that remains relatively steady, yet solid. BLS — which doesn’t release radio-specific figures — reports 334,000 were on the job across the wider broadcasting sector, which includes television and other content providers. That represents a half percent decline month-to-month. The number is 2.5% lower than a year ago, however, when 342,400 people were working in broadcasting, according to the government figures.

In the other media-related sector, BLS says employment in publishing rose 0.9% to 919,900 in June. Even more noteworthy is the print numbers were up 0.6% from a year ago.

Employment in advertising, which is closely tied to media, has been climbing during the past few years, but the segment had its seventh consecutive down month suggesting the ad business is under pressure. BLS says 489,200 people were working in advertising and public relations last month, a decline of 0.7% from May. And it is down about 8,300 positions year-to-year. The all-time peak in advertising employment was reached in April 2024, when the total hit 523,800. In the months since, the BLS figures had been fluctuating month-to-month until the sector’s recent downturn.

Predictions that the job market would begin seeing slower growth proved wrong, as employers grew payrolls by 147,000 jobs across the U.S. during June. Job gains occurred in state government and health care, while the federal government continued to lose jobs with 7,000 positions cut in June. BLS says the number of federal workers has been reduced by 69,000 since January. Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries according to the government data.

The unemployment rate held slid to 4.1% in June. The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 4% to 4.2 % since May 2024. The number of unemployed people, at 7 million, changed little in June. Adding to the good news was that both April and May hiring numbers were revised upward, adding 16,000 addition new positions in the U.S. economy this year.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents in June to $36.30. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.7%. And the average workweek for all employees edged down by a tenth of an hour to 34.2 hours in June.

“Once again, the jobs report outperformed consensus expectations on the back of the usual sectors. Despite all the fuss in the headlines, we continue to see a labor market posting solid numbers but with little-to-no momentum,” Kory Kantenga, Head of Economics at LinkedIn, said in a post. “The lack of robust job growth outside of a few sectors continues to point to a labor market at a standstill.”