The U.S. labor market added a whopping 223,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in the month of May, blowing away economists' projections of 190,000. This is a substantial increase from the 159,000 jobs that were gained last month. The national unemployment rate also slightly decreased to 3.8%, setting a newer 17-year low. This places the total number of unemployed Americans to 6.1 million, down 772,000 workers (or 0.5%) over the year. The labor force participation rate also edged down to 62.7%.

1. MAY 2018
JOB REPORT - U.S. BUREAU
OF LABOR STATISTICS
Employment Increases Over the
Past 12 Months by Industry:
223,000
Jobs created in May
The lowest unemployment
rate since 2000
3.8% Unemployment
rate
2.7% Average hourly
earnings rate
Average work week
hours34.5
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/may-2018-jobs-report-analysis?mod=article_inline
Construction
Sources:
179,000
Involuntary part-time
workers4.9M
Manufacturing
Mining (since October 2016)
Professional & Technical Services
Transportation & Warehousing
62.7% Labor force
participation rate
31,000Retail
29,000Healthcare
25,000
23,000
Construction
Professional & Technical Services
May Jobs (Net Change)
286,000
156,000
206,000
91,000
259,000
191K Average number of jobs
gained in last 12 months
*Employment in other major industries, including wholesale
trade, information, leisure and hospitality, financial activities,
and government, showed little change over the month.
Jobs added in last 3 months
Transportation & Warehousing
Manufacturing
Mining
19,000
18,000
6,000