U.S. unemployment rate dips to 9.7%

The U.S.economy added 431,000 jobs in May as the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7 per cent,the Bureau of Labour Statistics reports.

Despite the seemingly high number of new jobs, that's less than the 513,000 that a consensus of estimates compiled by The Associated Press was expecting.

Andmuch of the non-farm payrolls increase came from the 411,000 temporary workers that the U.S. government hired to canvas for the census during the month. May is typically a strong jobs month for that reason asthe governmentensures it hasenough door-knockers to pursue people who didn't mail back their census forms.

Private hiring was weak,adding only 41,000 positions.

The unemployment ratedropped modestly, to 9.7 per cent from 9.9 per cent. Much of that resulted not from the new jobs but because322,000 people left the labour force, whichexperts say underscores just how slow America's employment rebound is likely to be.

The total number of unemployed people was 15 million during the month, unchanged from April. Thenumber of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) wasroughly unchanged at 6.8 million.

"The gap is likely to close only gradually," said Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

The average work week rose 0.1 hours to 34.2 hours, data showed. On average, hourly earnings increased by seven cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $22.57 US in May.