NPR News: 07-02-2026 7AM EDT

Korva Coleman· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Korva Coleman. The Labor Department will release its latest monthly snapshots on the nation's job picture this morning. The reports are coming a day early because of the July Fourth holiday tomorrow. NPR's Scott Horsley says economists think the nation's employment was fairly stable in June.

Scott Horsley0:19

After really lackluster hiring in twenty twenty-five, we started to see some real life in the job market in March, April, and May. On average, employers added a hundred and eighty-eight thousand jobs in each of those months. Forecasters think today's report might show a little bit of a slowdown in June, but still pretty respectable gains, uh, enough to keep the unemployment rate down around four point three percent.

Korva Coleman· Host0:40

NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. The National Weather Service says that nearly one hundred forty-three million people are under extreme heat warnings from eastern Kansas south to Mississippi and north to New England today. Many of these regions will have heat indices of one hundred degrees or hotter. Millions of Americans are traveling this week for the Fourth of July holiday. NPR's Joel Rose reports on what's expected to be another record-setting test for the U.S. air travel system.

Joel Rose1:10

AAA projects that more than five point eight million travelers will take domestic flights this week, barely topping the record set last year. U.S. airlines are carrying more passengers than ever, even as they're operating fewer flights than they did twenty years ago, and that is pushing the limits of the aviation system. The Transportation Security Administration,