Number of US jobs in May exceeds pre-recession level

A job-seeker fills out an application during a career fair at the Southeast Community

The US economy added 217,000 jobs in May, bringing the total number of jobs in the country above the level at the beginning of the deep 2008-2009 recession for the first time.
Labor Department data showed Friday that the total number of jobs reached 138.46 million in May, exceeding the previous peak of 138.36 set in January 2008.