UPDATE - US adds 272,000 jobs in May, much higher than estimates

UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL FIGURES

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 272,000 jobs in May, much more than market estimates, according to Labor Department figures released Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was to show a gain of 182,000 last month.

Job additions for April, on the other hand, were revised down by 10,000, from 175,000 to 165,000.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 4% in May from 3.9% in April.

The market estimate for the figure was to come in at 3.9%.

The number of unemployed people slightly increased to 6.6 million in May, from 6.5 million in April, while the labor force participation rate slightly fell to 62.5% from 62.7% during that period.

The labor force participation rate slightly declined to 62.5% in May, 0.2 percentage points from 62.7% in April, according to the figures.

The employment-population ratio also decreased slightly by 0.1 percentage point to 60.1% from 60.2% during that period.

In May, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job stood at 5.7 million, the Labor Department said in a statement.

"These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job," it added.

Last month, most employment was seen in health care services with a gain of 43,000. This was followed by government employment with 43,000 and leisure and hospitality with 42,000.

In May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls increased by 0.4%, compared to April.

That figure showed an annual increase of 4.1%, compared to the same month of 2023.