The U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs in May, according to the monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday morning.
The national unemployment rate nudged lower, to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent — a 16-year low. The 4.4 percent level had been the lowest since since 2007, before the recession hit.
But the jobs numbers were not as strong as some were hoping to see. Economists had been expecting job gains of about 185,000, NPR’s Yuki Noguchi reports, and to see the unemployment rate holding steady.
Last month’s report initially showed job creation bouncing back in April, with the economy adding 211,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls. That figure was revised to 174,000 Friday, a drop of 37,000. Revisions also cut disappointing March results even further, from a gain of 79,000 to a gain of only 50,000 jobs.
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