Friday, June 5, 2015

May's Jobs Report

The May unemployment report, released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was another strong one. The economy added 280,000 jobs last month, up from 221,000 in April. We're still down slightly in recent months, with an average of  207,000 for the past three months, compared with 251,000 in the 12 months prior to May.

The headline unemployment rate ticked up a notch to 5.5 percent, despite the strong jobs number. That's mostly a result of more people entering the workforce and seeking new jobs, which is a sign of a stronger economy.

Another sign of a strengthening economy: Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers were up 2.3 percent in May from a year earlier, to an average of $24.96. That’s the fastest growth since the summer of 2013 and up from an average of 2 percent for the entire economic recovery.

No comments:

Post a Comment