The jobless rate in the United States dropped to 4.6 percent in May, the lowest since the summer of 2001, from 4.7 percent in the previous month, the Labor Department reported Friday.

But employers added just 75,000 to their payrolls in May, the smallest since October. Job gains for March and April turned out to be weaker than previously reported.

At the same time, wage growth slowed, a development that should ease concerns about inflation getting out of hand, according to the report.

The report showed that job cuts at factories, retailing and other fields tempered job gains in education and health care, financial activities and elsewhere in May.

Workers' average hourly earnings stood at 16.62 dollars in May, a 0.1 percent increase from April.

Wage improvement is good for workers but a rapid, sustained acceleration can ignite inflation concerns.

Economists had been expecting employers to add 170,000 jobs in May. They also were predicting the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.7 percent.

Source: Xinhua