U.S. unemployment rate drops to 9.7 percent in May

The U.S. unemployment rate declined to 9.7 percent in May as nonfarm payroll employment increased by 431,000, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The newly added jobs in May mostly came from the hiring of 411,000 temporary census workers. Such hiring by the federal government peaked in May and will begin tailing off in June.

However, many private employers remain wary of increasing their work forces. They added just 41,000 jobs, down from 218,000 in April and the fewest since January.

The unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points last month from April's 9.9 percent.

In May, the number of unemployed Americans decreased to 15 million from 15.3 million in April. Still, about 8 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in December 2007.

Source: Xinhua