Solid payrolls gains continue in May

Washington

EMPLOYERS added 217,000 jobs in May to push US payrolls past their pre-recession peak and the jobless rate held at an almost six-year low as the economy gained traction.

The advance was broad-based and followed a 282,000 gain in April, figures from the Labour Department showed yesterday in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 215,000 increase. Unemployment in May was unchanged at 6.3 per cent.

Improving business confidence as sales grow and the economy rebounds from its worst performance in three years will probably mean headcounts will continue to climb. Rising employment gives Federal Reserve policy makers r…