The US job market held up better than expected in May, as the unemployment rate fell for the first time in 8 months, a report showed today.
The jobless rate eased to 4.4 per cent from 4.5 per cent in April - defying economists' predictions that unemployment would tick higher. The last time the jobless rate fell was in September 2000.
But although the percentage of people out of work declined, trends in non-farm payrolls remained weak. The number of workers on US payrolls outside the farm sector fell by 19,000 - a modest drop that was close to the 17,000 contraction expected by economists.
The report included heavy revisions to prior months' data and some methodology changes. On balance, the job picture in recent months looked stronger after the changes.