The U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls jumped
by 39,000 in May after an upwardly revised 294,000 advance (from 253,000) in April.
That marked the highest
monthly advance since January (+472,000).
According to
the report, job gains were recorded in
professional and business services (+64,000), government (+56,000), health care
(+52,000), leisure and hospitality (+48,000), construction (+25,000),
transportation and warehousing (+24,000), and social assistance (+22,000).
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate climbed to 3.7 percent in May from an unrevised 3.4
percent in the prior month. That
represented the highest rate since October 2022 (3.7 percent).
Economists had expected the nonfarm payrolls to increase by 190,000 and
the jobless rate to go up to 3.5 percent.
The labor force participation rate remained unchanged m-o-m at 62.6
percent in May, while
hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 0.3 percent m-o-m (or $0.11) to
$33.44, following
a downwardly revised 0.4 percent m-o-m advance
(from +0.5 percent m-o-m) in April. Economists had predicted
the average hourly earnings to grow 0.3 percent m-o-m in May. Over the year,
the average hourly earnings soared 4.3 percent in May, following an unrevised 4.4 percent surge in the previous month.
The average workweek slipped 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours last month, being slightly
below economists' forecast of 34.4
hours.