U.S. employers added fewer jobs than expected in May, but the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 4.6 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. With only 75,000 new jobs added last month, financial markets cut predictions of further interest-rate increases from the Federal Reserve. May's payroll gain was the weakest since hurricane-depressed October, and marked the third straight month in which employment growth had slowed. A loss of 27,000 retail jobs and 14,000 factory jobs weighed on the overall May payroll count. Construction payrolls edged up by a meager 1,000 workers. Other economic data was weak, with the average hourly earnings up just 1 cent, or 0.1 percent, the length of the workweek dropping from a three and a half year high in April, and job growth for the prior two months being revised down by a net 37,000. Market economists had been expecting a gain of about 175,000 jobs in May, and earnings were predicted to increase by 0.3 percent. The unexpected drop in the unemployment rate, which is now at its lowest point since July 2001, marked the report's one bright spot. It reflected a strong gain in jobs as measured by a survey of households. Economists, however, view the survey of businesses that yields the non-farm payroll figures as more accurate. The report, and its predicted effect on interest rates, saw prices for U.S. government bonds rise, along with stock futures. The dollar also dropped slightly on the news. Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis, said the report suggested "some softening" in the U.S. labor market. "The Fed [Federal Reserve] has room to hold rates steady at the next meeting to see if other data confirm a slowdown," he said.
