The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 339,000 jobs in May, surpassing the upwardly revised 294,000 jobs in April and far exceeding economist forecasts of 195,000. April’s job gain was originally reported at 253,000. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, up from 3.4% in April and higher than estimates of 3.5%.
The price of bitcoin (BTC) stayed at just above $27,000 following the BLS release. The U.S. Federal Reserve has been on an unprecedented rate hike streak since early 2022 in an effort to control inflation, yet the strong employment market has been largely unaffected, giving the central bank a reason to continue tightening monetary policy.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will meet again on June 13-14, and markets are divided on whether the Fed will raise rates again, a stark contrast to one month ago when investors were almost certain the Fed would pause its rate hike cycle. This shift in sentiment has had an impact on bitcoin, which dropped from nearly $30,000 to the $27,000 level it was at before the data was released.
Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% in May compared to April’s 0.4% and expectations of 0.4%. Year-over-year, average hourly earnings were up 4.3%, in line with expectations and down from 4.4% in April.