Labor Market Makes Surprise Rebound as Unemployment Falls and Economy Adds Jobs

A now hiring sign is posted in the window of a CVS store in San Francisco, Calif., on June 7, 2019. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in May and layoffs abated, the Labor Department said on Friday in a report that showed the latest signs the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was bottoming.

President Donald Trump, in a series of tweets Friday, hailed what in one message he called a “Really Big Jobs Report,” adding, “Great going President Trump (kidding but true)!”