Slowdown in job growth

Job growth decelerated in May

By TIMOTHY NOAH and MARIANNE LEVINE

The economy added 138,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department reported Friday, signaling a possible slowdown in job growth.

May’s jobs numbers were a decrease from April, when the economy added 174,000 jobs. Job growth for both months was below the average monthly gain of 181,000 jobs over the previous year.

The totals since January leave job growth under President Donald Trump well under the million he claimed credit for yesterday when announcing U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.

But unemployment fell to 4.3 percent, down slightly from April's 4.4 percent, indicating that the job market remains tight and virtually guaranteeing that the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee will hike interest rates when it meets June 13-14.

Average hourly private-sector earnings were up 2.5 percent over the previous year, in line with slow productivity growth and tepid annual gains over the previous two years.

Labor force participation fell 0.2 percent to 62.7 percent, maintaining the past year's pattern of near-historic lows.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted the creation of about 185,000 jobs, an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent and an over-the-year increase in hourly earnings of 2.6 percent. The payroll company ADP estimated Thursday based on its own records that private-sector job growth in May was 253,000.