Worrying US job stats cast shadow on recovery

Growth in US employment slowed down significantly last month, hitting global markets and adding to fears the economic recovery is stumbling.

According to the figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm payroll employment was up 54,000 in May, following gains which averaged 220,000 in the previous three months.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate went up slightly from 9% to 9.1%.

Ahead of the release, a survey of economists by Reuters had suggested payrolls would have increased by 150,000 last month.

The BLS says job gains in May occurred in professional and business services, health care and mining, while local government continued to shed jobs.

The Dow Jones was down 1.01% at 12,124.77 in early trading after the news.

European markets were also hit, with the FTSE 100 down 0.57% at 5,814.41, while the Cac and Dax were down 0.79% and 0.37% respectively.