Solid recovery continues in US firms

US employers kept up a solid pace of hiring in May, returning employment to its pre-recession level and offering confirmation the economy has snapped back from a winter slump.

Non-farm payrolls increased 217,000 last month, the Labour Department said yesterday, in line with market expectations. Data for March and April was revised to show 6,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.

“That suggests the first quarter was an anomaly in terms of what the economy was and we are back to a decent pace of job creation. Overall it’s a pretty solid report,” said John Canally, an economist at LPL Financial in Boston.