Donald Trump broke with years of protocol on Friday, commenting on the US’s latest jobs report an hour before its official release.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced at 8.30am that the US had added 223,000 new jobs in May as the unemployment rate slid t0 3.8%, its lowest level since April 2000 and one of the lowest levels since after the second world war.



Trump, who has taken credit for job market growth despite the fact that it began under Obama, said on Twitter he was looking forward to the release of the monthly jobs report just over an hour ahead of its release.

Looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2018

Following his tweet, treasury yields moved sharply higher. The monthly report is one of the most market sensitive pieces of economic information released by the government and is carefully guarded ahead of its release.

For anyone other than the president, the comment would likely lead to an investigation or likely firing. The report is given to senior White House officials the day before its release but is usually closely protected.

Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Obama, said Trump should never again be given sight of the figures before their release.

“You should have gotten the employment numbers from the Council of Economic Advisers yesterday. And if this tweet is conveying inside information about a particularly good jobs number you should never get them in advance from the Council of Economic Advisers again,” he wrote on Twitter.

The latest gains were in retail trade, healthcare and construction, and wage growth – which has been slow since the end of the recession – picked up modestly. From a year ago, wages were up 2.7% – better than the 2.6% growth economists had forecast.

So far this year the US has now added 207,000 new jobs a month, continuing a record nine-year streak of job creation.

The strong numbers come as some economists worry that a threatened trade war could damage the US economy and as investors fret that the news will further pressure the Federal Reserve to speed up the rate at which it increases interest rates.

But the report highlighted once again that many Americans remain on the sidelines despite the tightening labor market. The labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of workers in jobs or looking for work, edged down to 62.7% from 62.8% in April – levels last seen in the 1970s.

That fall in participation was partly responsible for the latest dip in the unemployment rate, said the Economic Policy institute.

“About two-thirds of the drop in the unemployment rate in May was because workers found jobs, while about one-third of the drop was from people leaving the labor force,” wrote EPi economist Elise Gould in a blog post.