138,000 Jobs Added in May

The latest From the BLS Employment Report:

The U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs last month.  With the release of this month’s BLS report, the employment situation shows a steady recovery. Unemployment has now reached a 16-year low. The rate dropped to 4.3% in May — its lowest level since May 2001. So far this year, the U.S. has added 810,000 jobs. Since February, the first jobs report under President Trump, the U.S. has gained 594,000 jobs.

Economists’ predictions

Ahead of this month’s report, economists predicted a bump of 185,000 jobs. While slightly below this number at 138,000, the number of jobs added positively contributed to the overall employment rate. Federal Reserve officials indicated last week a rate hike would be likely if the economy stayed on track. And as the rate drop exceeded expectations, the jobs numbers likely clear the path for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this month.

This Month’s Jobs Report

Let’s break down the numbers from this month’s jobs report

In May, hourly wages increased by $0.04 to $26.22 per hour, following a 5 cent increase in April. This brings the year-over-year wage percentage increase to 2.5 percent. The unemployment rate saw a slight downtick to 4.3 percent.