U.S. Job Growth Surpasses Expectations with 272,000 New Jobs in May

In May, the U.S. added 272,000 jobs, significantly surpassing expectations of 190,000 and the previous month’s 165,000. Despite the job growth, the unemployment rate rose to 4%, the highest since January 2022. Job gains were primarily in health care, government, and leisure and hospitality. Average hourly earnings also increased by 0.4% for the month and 4.1% year-over-year.