U.S. employment growth eases more sharply than anticipated in May

The U.S. employment growth eased more sharply than expected in May, recording a modest rise of 75k. The prior months’ gains were downwardly revised by 75k jobs. On the other hand, the jobless rate continued to be close to a 50-year low of 3.6 percent.

The deceleration of hiring was widespread. Private services sector hiring slowed to 82k, and the goods-producing sector gained a measly 8k new jobs. A loss of 15k jobs in the government sector weighed on the headline tally.

The BLS noted that hiring continues to trend up in professional and business services and health care. Construction hiring was modest, rising 4k on the month, after a 30k spurt in April. Employment showed little changed in other major industries.

The labor force participation rate remained steady at 62.8 percent, and other measures of labor market slack rebounded. The U6 jobless rate, which includes people working part-time for economic reasons dropped to 7.1 percent, from 7.3 percent in April.

That is the lowest rate seen since 2000. Growth in average hourly earnings rose modestly by 0.2 percent in May, matching the monthly gain in April. Wage gains came in at 3.1 percent on a year-on-year basis.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bearish at -157.922 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex