Yahoo Finance May jobs report: U.S. added 272,000 jobs, beating expectations
June 7 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden Friday touted the "great American comeback" after U.S. non-farm payrolls grew by more than expected last month, according to the latests statistics from the Bureau of Labor.
"The great American comeback continues, but we still have to make more progress," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
"On my watch, 15.6 million more Americans have the dignity and respect that comes with a job. Unemployment has been at or below 4% for 30 months-the longest stretch in 50 years. And a record high share of working-age women have jobs."
The monthly Employment Situation Summary showed a 272,000 increase in May, while the unemployment rate was little changed at 4%.
The total sailed past the 190,000 forecasted by the Dow Jones consensus estimate and was more than 100,000 jobs, more than the 165,000 positions created in April.
"The rate of unemployment has been at or below 4 percent for the past 30 months, the longest stretch since 1970. These strong labor market indicators continue to point to strong, stable growth in the U.S. economy," Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement.
"The labor force participation rate for prime-age women once again set a record high at 78.1 percent. Women have powered our nation's economic recovery after the pandemic, and they continue to strengthen our labor force. In addition, employment gains last month were widespread across industries from healthcare, leisure and hospitality and jobs in local government like teachers, firefighters and other municipal workers."
The 4% unemployment rate was the highest since January 2022 amid a drop in the labor force participation rate by 0.2 points to 62.5%.
"Employment continued to trend up in several industries, led by health care, government, leisure and hospitality, and professional, scientific and technical services," the report said. "Both the unemployment rate, at 4%, and the number of unemployed people, at 6.6 million, changed little in May.
"A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.7%, and the number of unemployed people was 6.1 million."
The Labor Department said the non-farm employment total was higher than the monthly average of 232,000 over the past 12 months.
Healthcare led the increases with 68,000 jobs, topping the total of 64,000 in April. Ambulatory healthcare services added 43,000 jobs, hospitals hired 15,000, and nursing and residential care facilities added 11,000 jobs.
The report said the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm jobs remained at 34.3 hours in May.
Job losses were seen in department stores with 5,000 and furniture and home furnishing retailers at 4,000. Mining, oil and gas extraction, construction, manufacturing wholesale trade and transportation showed little change the report said.
The ADP monthly employment report on Wednesday said that private employers added 152,000 jobs in May, down from its April total of 188,000.
