Financial News: U.S. Job Growth Far Exceeds Estimates In May

U.S. Job Growth Far Exceeds Estimates In May

06/05/2026 - 09:42:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - Employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of May, according to a closely watched report released by the Labor Department on Friday.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 172,000 jobs in May after surging by an upwardly revised 179,000 jobs in April.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 85,000 jobs compared to the addition of 115,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

"The surge in payrolls in May along with upward revisions to prior months are more than enough to allow the Federal Reserve to keep policy steady for an extended period as it focuses on the inflation side of its dual mandate," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead US Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "However, labor market conditions are not yet tightening on a sustained basis and wage growth remains moderate, so rate hikes appear unnecessary."

The report showed notable growth in leisure and hospitality, local government, and health care jobs, while employment in the financial activities sector declined.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate came in at 4.3 percent in May, unchanged from April after in line with economist estimates.

The unemployment rate held steady as the household survey measure of employment jumped by 149,000 persons but the labor force also increased by 83,000 persons.

The Labor Department also said average hourly employee earnings climbed by $0.12 or 0.3 percent to $37.53 in May.

The annual rate of growth by average hourly employee earnings fell to 3.4 percent in May from 3.6 percent in April, in line with expectations.

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