US unemployment climbs to 13.3 percent amid coronavirus pandemic

A Friday report from the US Labor Department showed that employers had added a surprising 2.5 million in jobs in May—the largest increased on record thus far. The economy was stripped of 22.1 million jobs in April and March, according to Fox Business.

Economists surveyed by Refinitiv expected to see the report to reveal that unemployment had risen to 19.8 percent in May and that employers had shed another 8 million jobs.

The jobless rate dropped from 14.7 percent in April, which had been the highest level ever since record-keeping began in 1948. The surprising decline, together with the surge in jobs, suggests the worst may be over.

Stocks soared higher following the report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointing to an open nearly 600 higher.

"Barring a second surge of COVID-19, the overall US economy may have turned a corner, as evidenced by the surprise jobs gains today, even though it still remains to be seen exactly what the new normal will look like," Tony Bedikian said, head of global markets at Citizens Bank.

President Trump shared that he was "stunned" by the unexpected addition of jobs last month.

"I've never seen numbers like this and I've been doing this for 30 years," he tweeted.

In fact, this was the largest gain in one month since 1939, according to The Daily Wire.

"Today was a shocking jobs number—and for the first time this year it was a positive shock," Chris Zaccarelli said, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. "It's very encouraging to see workers being recalled back by their employers and the unemployment rate dropped back down in May."

Leisure and hospitality, which happens to be the sector hit the hardest throughout the pandemic, made up more than half of the increase in jobs with 1.2 million employees returning to work last month. In April, the industry had suffered the loss of 7.6 million jobs.

A total of 1.3 million workers returned to food and drinking service sector jobs as states gradually allowed businesses deemed non-essential to reopen.

Construction also experienced a significant rise in employment last month, with adding on a total of 464,000 jobs. Education and health services increased by 424,000 and retail climbed by 368,000.

Those unemployed Americans who reported being temporarily laid-off decreased by 2.7 million in May, which represents the majority of those who have been able to return to work.

Every state has begun opening their economies to some capacity in the last few weeks. But the unemployment level, which remains the highest since the Depression, is expected to remain so as social distancing protocols remain intact.

"It's important to remember the labor market still faces an unemployment rate at the highest level since the Great Depression with tens of millions of Americans still out of work," Daniel Zhao said, a Glassdoor senior economist.

"While the labor market may be on the path to recovery, there is still a long way to go until the labor market returns to pre-crisis levels and makes up for lost growth."