Skip to content
Jens Erik GouldJun 5, 2022 12:00:00 AM1 min read

May jobs report shows US labor market still strong

The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in May, underscoring that the labor market remains tight even amid concerns about a possible economic slowdown.

The economy added 390,000 jobs last month, outpacing the median estimate of 325,000 expected by a Reuters survey of economists.

The unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% for the third month in a row, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That rate is only slightly over the lowest rate since December 1969.

Meanwhile, average hourly earnings increased 0.3% from April and by 5.2% over the past 12 months.

“May's #JobsReport shows that the job market is chugging along undeterred, adding 390,000 jobs, solidly beating expectations,” said Glassdoor’s senior economist Daniel Zhao.

In particular, the professional and business services industry saw notable gains, adding 75,000 jobs last month, while leisure and hospitality added 84,000 positions, according to BLS.

Non-farm payroll employment remains around 800,000 jobs below pre-pandemic levels and the labor market has a 3.2 million job shortfall when taking into account population growth, according to Economic Policy Institute senior economist Elise Gould.

The fast acceleration in wages has increased the cost of doing business and helped fuel inflation, which was above 8% and close to a 40-year high in April.

avatar

Jens Erik Gould

Jens Erik Gould is the Founder & CEO of Amalga Group, a Texas-based nearshore outsourcing company specializing in providing highly qualified talent in IT, software engineering, legal and contact centers. Previously, Gould spent over a decade reporting on topics such as business, politics, and energy in the United States and Latin America for esteemed media outlets like Bloomberg News, The New York Times, and TIME.

RELATED ARTICLES