May Jobs Report: US Economy Adds More Jobs Than Expected, But Wage Growth Slows

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in May but wage growth slowed, the Labor Department’s monthly report showed on Friday.

The report said 339,000 non-farm payrolls were created last month, while economists polled by Reuters forecast an average of 190,000. Their estimates ranged from 100,000 to 293,000.

The April figure has been revised to 294,000 instead of 253,000 announced in the first estimate.

The unemployment rate, for its part, rose to 3.7% after 3.4% the previous month and a consensus of 3.5%.

The Labor Department report also shows that the average hourly wage slowed to 0.3% in May after +0.5% in April, bringing its year-on-year increase to 4.3%, against forecasts in average of +0.3% and +4.4% respectively.

Futures indices on Wall Street increased their gains after the report’s release, as average hourly earnings slowed and job creations were only slightly higher than April’s revised figures.

The Dow Jones is seen up 0.42%, the S&P 500 0.41% and the Nasdaq 0.45%.

After the release of the jobs report, money markets are still pricing in a 70% chance of a status quo on Fed rates at the June 13-14 meeting, according to the Fedwatch Barometer.

(Report Lucia Mutikani; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)