WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of new jobs climbed by an unexpectedly brisk 157,000 in May on a surge of hiring in service businesses while hiring in the factory sector continued to decline, Labor Department data showed on Friday.þþThe total of new jobs in May handily outstripped Wall Street economists' forecasts for 130,000 jobs and fit with other recent evidence that the pace of economic activity was bouncing back from a soft patch in the first three months of the year. It may also raise fears about the possibility that tight labor markets will fan wage and price pressures.þþThe monthly unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent in May.þþThe department revised April's job-creation figures to show that 80,000 jobs were created instead of the 88,000 it reported a month ago.þþAll the new May jobs came in service-producing industries, which produced 176,000 more jobs while 19,000 were lost from the goods-producing sector. Among service businesses, there was healthy job growth in financial activities, business services, education, the hospitality industry and in government.þþBut another 19,000 jobs were shed by manufacturing businesses and there was no job growth at all in construction industries.þþAverage hours of work rose slightly to 33.9 from 33.8 in April, though overtime hours fell slightly to 4.1 in May from 4.2 in April.þþFederal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner, in a speech delivered on Friday in Greece, said the U.S. central bank expected a rebound in growth after a weak first quarter and said policy-makers were wary about inflation risks.þþÿThe high level of resource utilization continues to have the potential to put additional upward pressure on inflation,ÿ Kroszner told the Institute of International Finance.þþ
Source: NY Times
