Employers added 339,000 jobs in May, according to the monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday. Last month’s job growth showed an acceleration from April’s job gains, which were revised upwardly to 294,000, and it’s a far hotter number than the 190,000 that economists were expecting. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7% from 3.4%. Economists were projecting it to climb to 3.5%, according to Refinitiv.
Construction as well as transportation and warehousing also saw job growth. “With 339,000 job openings, we’re still rewriting the rule book, and the US labor market continues to defy historical definitions,” Becky Frankiewicz, president and chief commercial officer of ManpowerGroup said in a statement. “The most resilient sectors include leisure and hospitality, as consumers are indulging in summer travel and eating out, creating hiring demand.