STEADY AS SHE GOES

U.S. Regains Jobs Lost in Recession

Another 217,000 found work.

Employers hired 217,000 workers in May, which was only slightly more than the average monthly gain for the past six months. However, the unemployment rate remained the same at 6.3 percent. Nearly 10 million are still out of work, the Labor Department announced Friday morning. The number of long-term unemployed also remained unchanged at 3.4 million. So far, the first half of 2014 has averaged 200,000 new jobs per month. This means that the U.S. economy has added at least 200,000 jobs a month for four straight months for the first time since 1999. And while this jobs data means the U.S. economy has finally passed its pre-recession employment peak, government employment is still far below pre-recession levels, and the gains have been mostly in the private sector.