The U.S. added just 75,000 jobs in May, far below expectations

published 7 June 2019

The U.S. added 75,000 jobs in May, falling short of the 185,000 new non-farm jobs economists polled by MarketWatch had expected. The Labor Department also said that it had adjusted April's blockbuster gains from 263,000 down to 224,000.

March's job growth was cut from 189,000 to 153,000. The unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent, near a 50-year low.Twelve-month hourly wage gains slowed from 3.2 percent to 3.1 percent. The average wage for American workers rose 0.2 percent, or 6 cents, to $27.83 an hour. The report added to concerns about slowing economic growth, and increased pressure on the Federal Reserve to boost the economy by cutting interest rates.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.