Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 272,000 jobs in May, according to the latest BLS jobs report. This comes after the addition of 165,000 jobs in April (downward revision) and is above the 12-month average monthly gain of 232,000.
For another month, health care was the industry with the most job growth, adding 68,000 jobs in May, followed by government (+43,000) and leisure and hospitality (+42,000). Meanwhile, after losing 12,000 jobs in April, employment in temporary help services continued to decline in May with a decrease of 14,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate increased to 4.0% in May, representing 6.6 million unemployed people. For comparison, last year’s unemployment rate was 3.7% and 6.1 million people were facing unemployment.
The labor force participation rate changed little over the month, at 62.5%.
