WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a solid 280,000 jobs in May, showing that the economy is back on track after starting 2015 in a slump. 
 
 The Labor Department says the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent in April. The strong job growth suggests that employers remained confident enough to keep hiring even after the economy shrank during the first three months of the year. 
 
 Workers found jobs at an average pace of 207,000 over the past three months, a decent gain though down from last year's average of 263,667. 
 
 Construction firms and the health care industry drove job growth, while cheaper oil prices led the energy sector to shed workers for the fifth straight month. 
 
 Average hourly wages in May rose only 2.3 percent from a year earlier. 

 Yes, it was that time again, folks. Jobs Friday, when for one ever-so-brief moment, the interests of Wall Street, Washington and Main Street were all aligned on one thing: jobs. Here’s how it all went down.
– It's a good number: 280,000 jobs were added in May, besting economists' consensus prediction of 225,000. Today's jobs report also revealed the unemployment rate ticked up from 5.4% to 5.5%, the Wall Street Journal reports. The new jobs numbers for March and April show an overall gain: 119,000 jobs were added in March, up from the previous estimate of 85,000, while April's previous estimate of 223,000 was revised slightly downward to 221,000. Some other numbers for comparison: The past 12 months have seen an average monthly gain of 251,000 jobs. The past three months have seen an average monthly gain of 207,000 jobs. In 2015 so far, the monthly average has been 202,000 new jobs; last year, that number was 260,000. The report is being received generally well, with the Journal's Jeffrey Sparshott noting that the "latest figures suggest the economy is regaining some of the momentum lost ... during the first quarter," and the AP noting that the new jobs number shows "that the economy is back on track after starting 2015 in a slump."