Employers in the United States added 217,000 jobs in May, slightly below what analysts had been expecting. The US non-farm payroll figure was well below April's revised number of 282,000 jobs, but it was still the fourth month in a row of solid gains. The unemployment rate in May remained at 6.3%.
The US economy shrank by an annualized 1% in the first three months of 2014, official estimates have shown. It is the worst economic performance since the first quarter of 2011 and a big fall on the 2.6% rise in economic output in the final quarter of last year.
The Federal Reserve looked past a dismal reading on first quarter US growth and gave a mostly upbeat assessment of the economy's prospects as it announced another cut in its massive bond-buying stimulus. Latest information indicates that economic activity has picked up after having slowed sharply during the winter in part because of adverse weather conditions, the central bank said on Wednesday.
The US added 192,000 new jobs in March, in line with expectations, as the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7%. Severe weather over the winter did not prevent the monthly average for new jobs from continuing a climb towards pre-economic crisis levels.
Advanced economies, including the United States, must avoid pulling back stimulus too quickly given the weak global economic recovery and recent market volatility highlights key risks in some emerging markets, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.
The US economy added 113,000 jobs in January; the second month in a row the figure has been weaker than expected. Economists had predicted the US Labor Department would report an increase of about 180,000 new jobs. However, the unemployment rate fell to 6.8%, the lowest level since October 2008.
The U.S. economy advanced at a steady pace in the last months of 2013, growth that was fueled by robust consumer spending. The government's Commerce Department said Thursday the world's largest economy grew 3.2%t in the October-to-December period, following a 4.1% advance in the third quarter.
The US economy created only 74,000 jobs in December, with many Americans giving up looking for work, latest figures show. The number of jobs created was the lowest for three years and was well under half the number expected by analysts.
Federal Reserve members mostly agreed about a reduction in the central bank's stimulus efforts in December, meeting minutes released Wednesday reveal. The central bank announced a $10bn a month reduction in its bond buying program at the end of its December meeting.
The United States economy grew at a surprisingly robust 4.1% annual pace in the third quarter according to the Commerce Department, which was the strongest advance in nearly two years and only the third time the economy had expanded that quickly from one quarter to the next since 2006.