Breaking: Unemployment Rate Falls Again, Ties Lowest in 50 Years
The U.S. economy saw an upturn in the month of May, marking the lowest unemployment rate in 18 years.
“The economy and labor market appear to be firing on all cylinders, with all sectors showing strength,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
The May jobs report from the Department of Labor on Friday showed the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent.
Since 1969, the only other time unemployment has been this low was in April 2000, according to Reuters.
Job growth had slowed in March and April, according to Reuters. Bad weather was blamed for the slower job growth over those two months.
“March’s count was revised up from 135,000 to 155,000 while April ended lower from 164,000 to 159,000, for a net gain of 15,000,” CNBC reported.
The month of May saw 223,000 jobs added, which was better than economists expected.
According to the report, education and health care led with 39,000 additional jobs. Retailers added 32,000 jobs and manufacturing added 18,000.
Government payrolls also increased by 5,000, reversing a 3,000 drop in April.
“The employment this month really underscores, once again, the robust strength of the labor market,” said Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group. “May showed steady momentum in jobs and certainly hit back at any worries among economists who thought hiring was beginning to finally slow after seeing last month’s report.”
Wages also increased by a slight margin.
“Average hourly earnings increased 8 cents to $26.92, pushing up the annual increase to 2.7% from 2.6%,” USA Today reported. However, pay growth still remains below levels that are typical when the unemployment rate is this low.
President Donald Trump has touted his economic accomplishments throughout his presidency, and early Friday morning he said he was looking forward to seeing the department’s report.
At 7:21 a.m., he tweeted, “Looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning.”
As noted by Fox News, “The president is normally briefed on the monthly jobs report the day before it is publicly released, and he and other administration officials are not supposed to comment on it beforehand.”
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