US jobs show strong growth in May

                             

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%.

Job gains have averaged 234,000 a month over the past three months, compared with 150,000 over the previous three months.

It's hoped the current labour market figures show that the US economy has emerged from its winter slump and is set to strengthen its recovery later in the year.

"That suggests the first quarter was an anomaly in terms of what the economy was and we are back to a decent pace of job creation," said John Canally, an economist at LPL Financial in Boston.