US non-farm payroll employment grew 390k in May, above expectation of 325k. Prior month’s growth was also revised up from 428k to 436k. Overall non-farm employment was still down by -822k, or -0.5% from its prepandemic level.
Unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6% for the third month in a row, above expectation of 3.5%. No of unemployed was essentially unchanged at 6.0m. Participation rate rose 0.1% to 62.3%.
Average hourly earnings rose only 0.3% mom, below expectation of 0.4% mom.
