CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
Washington, US.- Another month of strong hiring drove the nation’s unemployment rate down to 3.8 percent — tantalizingly close to the level last seen in 1969, when Detroit still dominated the auto industry and the Vietnam War was raging.

Employers added 233,000 jobs in May, up from 159,000 in April, the Labor Department reported Friday. And unemployment fell to an 18-year low. The report shows that the nearly 9-year-old economic expansion — the second-longest on record — remains on track and may even be gaining steam.

Employers appear to be shrugging off recent concerns about global trade disputes. “The May jobs report revealed impressive strength and breadth in U.S.

job creation that blew away most economists’ expectations,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West. With the unemployment rate so low, businesses have complained for months that they are struggling to find enough qualified workers. But Friday’s report suggests they are starting to take chances with pockets of the unemployed and underemployed that they previously dismissed.