Job growth in the U.S. exceeded economist estimates in the month of May, according to a closely watched report released by the Labor Department on Friday.<\/p>\n
The report showed non-farm payroll employment jumped by 390,000 jobs in May after surging by an upwardly revised 436,000 jobs in April.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 325,000 jobs compared to the addition of 428,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
“The May jobs report indicated that, despite intensifying headwinds and recession concerns, the job market remains strong,” said Kathy Bostjancic, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n
The stronger than expected job growth partly reflected significant increases in employment in the leisure and hospitality, professional and businesses services and education and health<\/span> services sectors.<\/p>\n The transportation and warehousing and construction sectors also saw notable job growth, while employment in the retail sector slumped by 60,700 jobs.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 3.5 percent.<\/p>\n The unemployment rate came in unchanged came as the labor force grew by 330,000 people, while the household survey measure of employment increased by 321,000.<\/p>\n The report also showed average hourly earnings rose by $0.10 or 0.3 percent to $31.95 in May. The annual rate of wage growth slowed to 5.2 percent in May from 5.5 percent in April.<\/p>\n