U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May as states reopened from COVID-19 shutdowns

The unemployment rate in the United States unexpectedly fell in May and layoffs abated, the Department of Labour said Friday in a report that showed the latest signs the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was bottoming.

The department's closely watched monthly employment report showed the jobless rate dropped to 13.3 per centlast month from 14.7 per centin April. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.509 million jobs after a record plunge of 20.687 million in April.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the jobless rate jumping to 19.8 per centin May from 14.7 per centin April. Nonfarm payrolls for May had been expected to fall by eightmillion jobs.

The jobs market improved considerably in the second half of May as businesses reopened after shuttering in mid-March to slow the spread of COVID-19. Consumer confidence, manufacturing and services industries are also stabilizing, though at low levels, signs the worst may be over.

"The good news is that we probably have hit the bottom," said Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "But the recovery will be painfully slow. It will take years, probably a decade to get back to where we were at the end of last year."