Home Depot stores face steady hiring as labor market cools slightly

Home Depot store managers are heading into the summer project rush with a labor market that is still hiring, but no longer heating up. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said total nonfarm payrolls rose by 172,000 in May and unemployment held at 4.3%, a rate that has stayed in a narrow 4.3% to 4.5% range since July 2025. For stores, that points to steady hiring, not a flood of available workers, which makes retention, cross-training and schedule discipline more important on the sales floor and in receiving.

The report also showed 7.3 million people were unemployed, including 2.0 million long-term unemployed workers who had been out of work for 27 weeks or more. That group was up 524,000 from a year earlier and made up 27.5% of all unemployed people in May. The labor force participation rate held at 61.8%, while the employment-population ratio was 59.2%. Average hourly earnings for private nonfarm employees rose to $37.53, up 12 cents, or 0.3%, from April. For Home Depot, that is a reminder that experienced associates still carry real value, especially when the broader market is stable enough to support job switching but not loose enough to make staffing every shift easy.

The payroll report also said employment changed little in retail trade, construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade. Job gains came in leisure and hospitality, local government and health care, while financial activities declined. That mix matters inside a Home Depot because front-end coverage, freight handling and Pro support do not run on headlines. They depend on whether managers can keep trained people in place, move associates where demand spikes, and avoid burning out the same workers every time a weekend project rush hits.

Home Depot’s own filings point in the same direction. In its fiscal 2025 annual report, the company said knowledgeable associates and on-shelf availability are critical to the store experience, and that it is investing in training, product knowledge, process simplification and technology. The company said it operated more than 2,300 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and it plans to build about 80 new stores over five years, then keep opening 15 to 20 stores a year after that plan ends in 2027.

The company’s first-quarter fiscal 2026 sales rose to $41.8 billion, up 4.8% from a year earlier, while comparable sales increased 0.6% overall and 0.4% in the United States. CEO Ted Decker said the underlying demand in the business was “relatively similar” to what Home Depot saw throughout fiscal 2025. Put together, the jobs report and the company’s results suggest the same thing for associates and managers: summer execution will hinge less on finding a wave of new labor and more on keeping the trained workforce that is already in the building.