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Washington: 390,000 jobs were created in the United States last month, according to a government report released Friday, in an indication that the slowdown in employment remains better than expected amid a labor shortage.
The unemployment rate stabilized at 3.6 percent for the third month in a row, at a level 10 percentage points higher than the rate recorded before the pandemic in February 2020, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Restaurants and hotels, which were severely affected by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the measures taken to contain it, showed a strong recovery in May, and the sector witnessed the creation of 84,000 jobs, according to government data.
However, jobs in the sector are still 1.3 million fewer jobs compared to the pre-pandemic level.
wage increase
Employers are struggling to fill the vacant positions, which has led to an increase in wages, and the average hourly wage has increased by ten cents compared to what it was in April, to $31.95.
The wage rate increased by 5.2 percent compared to May 2021, but a slowdown was recorded in this respect compared to the previous month, according to the report.
Raising interest rates
This may constitute a positive development for the Federal Reserve (the US Central Bank), which launched a strict plan to raise interest rates in order to combat inflation, which rose to its highest rate in more than forty years.
The labor force participation rate rose slightly to 62.3 percent, an indication of the return of more workers to the labor market, which would ease pressure on wages.
