WASHINGTON — America’s employers added a vigorous 272,000 jobs in May, accelerating from April and a sign that companies are still confident enough in the economy to keep hiring despite persistently high interest rates.
The unemployment rate edged up to a still-low 4%, from 3.9%, ending a 27-month streak of unemployment below 4%, the Labor Department said Friday. That had matched the longest such run since the late 1960s. Last month’s robust job gain suggests that the economy should keep expanding at a steady pace. A healthy job market typically propels consumer spending, the economy’s principal fuel. Some recent signs of economic weakness have raised concerns that growth was faltering. May’s jobs report could help assuage those worries.
Annual inflation has declined to 2.7% by the Fed’s preferred measure, still above the Fed’s 2% target. Cooler hiring over time could slow wage gains and help fully tame inflation. Chair Jerome Powell has said the Fed needs greater confidence that inflation is returning sustainably to its target before it would reduce borrowing costs.
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