The US economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than five and a half years in May as manufacturing and construction employment fell sharply, suggesting slippage in the labour market that coul
The US economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than five and a half years in May as manufacturing and construction employment fell sharply, suggesting slippage in the labour market that could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain since September 2010, the labour department said on Friday.
“This is not a good report, and it may well give Fed officials second thoughts about increasing interest rates again this month or next, as some have suggested lately,” said Peter Ireland, an economics professor at Boston College.
The Fed has signaled its intention to raise rates soon if job gains continued and economic data remained consistent with a pickup in growth in the second quarter.
Fed Chair Yellen said last week that a rate increase would probably be appropriate in the “coming months,” if those conditions were met. The US central bank hiked its benchmark overnight interest rate in December for the first time in nearly a decade.
Reacting to the data, gold surged more than two per cent and was on track for its biggest one-day jump in more than a month.
