U.S. economy adds more than 270,000 jobs in May

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy’s roughly 4 percent unemployment rate remained relatively unchanged even as employers hired more workers. Employers hired roughly 272,000 workers last month—about 40,000 more workers than the monthly average over the past year.

What fields added the majority of these jobs? The healthcare field alone added almost 70,000 of those jobs. Roughly 43,000 people found government jobs last month, and a similar number found employment in the leisure and hospitality industry. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector added just over 30,000 jobs.

What about the unemployment rate? Has that remained the same? Unemployment rates, both generally and demographically, remained static. The unemployment rate for adult men stayed at nearly 4 percent, while the rate for adult women remained under 3 ½ percent. Roughly 12 percent of teenagers remained unemployed. Along ethnic lines, about 3 ½ percent of white people didn’t have a job, while just over 6 percent of black people were unemployed. Just over 3 percent of Asian Americans and about 5 percent of Hispanic Americans were unemployed.