WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — U.S. employers stepped up hiring in May, adding 339,000 jobs.

The report from the government, released Friday, shows the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April.

Stronger hiring demonstrates the job market's resilience after more than a year of rapid rise in interest rates. Many industries continue to add jobs to meet consumer demand and restore workforces to a pre-pandemic level.

The May jobs report adds to recent evidence that the economy is managing to chug ahead despite forecasts that a recession is approachings. Consumers increased spending in April, even after adjusting for inflation, and sales of new homes rose, despite higher mortgage rates.

Some cracks in the economy’s foundations, though, have begun to emerge. Home sales overall have tumbled. A measure of factory activity indicated that it has contracted for seven straight months.

The Federal Reserve’s so-called Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal reports mostly from businesses throughout the U.S., shows the pace of hiring gains in April and May had “cooled some” compared with previous reports. Many companies said they were fully staffed.

At the same time, despite some high-profile job cuts by financial and high-tech companies, the pace of layoffs remains unusually low. The number of people seeking first-time unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, barely rose from a low level last week.

Many employers are still engaged in so-called “catch-up hiring,” particularly in such sectors as restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues. Even as customer demand in these industries has spiked, the number of employed workers remains below pre-pandemic levels.

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