U.S. economy adds 2.5 million jobs in May

The U.S economy rebounded with surprising strength last month as businesses began to reopen from the coronavirus lockdown. U.S. employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, and the unemployment rate fell to 13.3%.

It was a stunning turnaround from April, when the U.S. lost nearly 20.7 million jobs, slamming on the brakes of the economy in a desperate effort to slow the spread of the pandemic.

May's unemployment rate is still extremely high by historical standards, but much better than forecasters were expecting. It reflects an improvement over April's jobless rate of 14.7%.

A "misclassification" from April, however, indicates that the unemployment rate should have been closer to 16.3% in May, but still a significant improvement on April's figure.

Read the full story at NPR