The May jobs report released Friday showed the US economy remains strong with more than 300,000 jobs created last month, while the unemployment rate rose 3.7%.
The US economy added 339,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday. This marks the 14th-straight month that job creation came in above what Wall Street economists had expected.
Economists had expected the report to show nonfarms rose by 195,000 while the unemployment rate was expected to tick up to 3.5%.
Here are the key numbers from the report compared to estimates from Bloomberg:
Nonfarm payrolls: +339,000 vs. +195,000
Unemployment rate: 3.7% vs. 3.5%
Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.3% vs. +0.3%
Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +4.3% vs. +4.4%
Average weekly hours worked: 34.3 vs. 34.4
Friday's jobs report showed wage growth remained strong with wages rising 4.3% over the prior year but marked a deceleration from the 4.4% growth seen in April.
Employment gains for the last two months were revised higher to show 294,000 jobs were created during the month, 41,000 more than previously reported. March's job gains were also revised higher — to 217,000 from 165 — making job growth over that two month stretch higher than previously reported by 93,000.