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    June 2, 2023

    US Job Creation Outpaces Expectations in May

    Written by David Schollaert

    The US economy added 339,000 new jobs in May, according to data from the US Department of Labor. The labor market again outperformed economists’ consensus expectations with another show of resilience, and beating April’s total of 253,000. 

    May’s job growth came despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive efforts to cool the economy to slow the labor market and tackle inflation through rate hikes. The jobless rate rose to 3.7% in May against the estimate of 3.5%, according to Labor data, even though the labor force participation rate was unchanged. The rate increase was due in large part to a decline of 369,000 in self-employment.

    David Schollaert

    David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

    Read more from David Schollaert

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