Exceeding expectations, the U.S. economy added 172,000 new jobs in May, while the national unemployment rate remained locked at 4.3% for the third consecutive month.
The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday showed that nonfarm payroll growth last month far surpassed preliminary forecasts ranging from 85,000 to 110,000.
Another robust jobs readout bolsters the case for Federal Reserve hawks advocating an interest rate hike later this year as a way to rein in inflation.
The employment sectors that saw the biggest gains in hiring in May included leisure and hospitality (+70,000), local government (+55,000), and healthcare (+35,000), as job creation in financial services softened (-22,000).
This is a developing story. Please come back for updates.
Snejana Farberov is a reporter at Realtor.com covering the U.S. housing market and the latest domestic real estate trends. She has worked as a general assignment journalist in New York City and Long Island for 16 years, writing for New York Post, Daily Mail, and News 12. Snejana earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Italian from St. John’s University, followed by a master’s degree from Columbia University School of Journalism.
