The U.S. labor market has climbed out of a rut.
The country added more jobs than expected in May, posting strong payroll gains for the third month in a row
Despite uncertainties around the Iran war, inflation, trade and artificial intelligence, the report suggests the U.S. labor market is steadily recovering from its weak patch last fall and winter. Most Read from The Wall Street Journal The numbers The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday, beating expectations. That was far better than the 80,000 jobs that analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.
The unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 4.3% in May, in line with economists’ expectations. “What we’re seeing here is the catch-up from last year where employers were on pause” due to trade policy uncertainties and federal-government cuts, said Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “Employers have a better sense of the growth backdrop.” Industries that gained and lost Heading into the summer months and the coming World Cup soccer tournament, a number of sectors posted outsize job gains. Leisure and hospitality added 70,000 new jobs. Local government hiring jumped, with 55,000 new jobs added.