U.S. job growth surged in June as employers ended two months of weak hiring, the government reported Friday, signaling a resilient economy recovering from a slump early in the year. The Labor Department said 287,000 jobs were created last month, the biggest gain since October 2015. May's job-creation figure was revised lower to 11,000 from a previously reported 38,000. April saw a modest 144,000 jobs created. Manufacturing employment increased 14,000 in June after losing 16,000 jobs the previous month. The leisure and hospitality sectors gained 59,000 jobs, and retail rose nearly 30,000. Construction payrolls were unchanged after two months of declines. The unemployment rate rose in June to 4.9 percent from 4.7 percent, but the increase was because more people entered the labor force, a sign of confidence in the jobs market. The labor-force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or searching for work, rose 0.1 percentage point to 62.7 percent. Economists had expected payrolls rising about 175,000 last month and the unemployment rate rising 0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent. The return of more than 35,000 striking Verizon workers also boosted June job growth. The broadly positive report Friday suggests the economy was improving before Britain startled the world last month by voting to exit the European Union. The recent hiring slump came after the economy grew at a weak 1.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter of the year. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity,rose at the slowest pace in two years during the period. Despite the June rebound, forward momentum in the labor market has slowed. Economists say the deceleration is normal because it has been several years since the recovery from the 2007-2009 Great Recession started, and the labor market now is near full employment.
