U.S. economy adds more jobs in May, jobless rate edges up to 5.5 pct

The U.S. job market continued its resurgence in May with 280,000 new jobs added in the month, while the unemployment rate edged up to 5.5 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The Labor Department revised April's job gains down to 221,000 from its previous estimate of 223,000, while March's data was revised up to 119,000 from 85,000.

After revisions, employment gains in March and April were 32,000 more than previously reported. Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 207,000 per month, said the Labor Department.

The number of long-term unemployed, or those who remained jobless for 27 weeks or more, held at 2.5 million, accounting for 28.6 percent of the overall unemployed population.

The labor force participation rate, the share of the working-age population employed or looking for a job, ticked up to 62.9 percent in May. Since April 2014, the participation rate has remained within a narrow range of 62.7 percent to 62.9 percent.

Average hourly earnings rose by 8 U.S. cents to 24.96 U.S. dollars in May. Over the year, the figure has risen by 2.3 percent, a little better than the 2 percent annual pace in recent years.

Lael Brainard, governor of the Federal Reserve Board, said recently that there is still room for employment and hours worked to grow further.

She also said she will take some time to assess the underlying economic strength in view of the soft data at the beginning of this year and the headwinds from the global economy, when considering the first interest rate hike. Endi