US Economy News Today: Employers Add Far More Jobs Than Expected in May

Employers Add Far More Jobs Than Expected in May

20 minutes ago

The labor market was surprisingly strong in May.

Employers added 272,000 jobs in May, far more than the 165,000 added in April, a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal expected 190,000 jobs added.

The unemployment rate was slightly higher than economists’ expectations at 4.0%, slightly above the 3.9% in April. That snapped a 27-month streak of the unemployment rate sitting below 4.0%.

Markets and economists expected signs of a slower labor market. Data earlier this week showed that while layoffs remain scarce, few employees are quitting and jobs are becoming more scarce.

Treasury yields jumped on the news. The 10-year yield added 11 basis points. Dow and Nasdaq futures were down 0.3% in premarket trading Friday while S&P futures were down 0.4%.

A resilient job market gives the Federal Reserve more room to hold interest rates steady in its fight against inflation as it looks to strike the right balance of its dual mandate.

This blog post was updated to include market reaction.