US unemployment at 16-year low, but economy's weak spots remain

The judgment of what constitutes strong or tepid job growth has shifted as expansion ages

Unemployment sank to 4.3 percent in May, its lowest level in 16 years, the government reported Friday, but halfhearted wage growth and a shrinking labor force revealed the economy’s stubborn weak spots.

While the downsides sent bond prices lower, the report is unlikely to deter the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates when its policy makers meet in Washington this month. “It is not enough to derail the Fed at all,” said Dan North, chief economist at the credit insurer Euler Hermes North America.

The milestone on the jobless rate came with a middling increase of 138,000 in payrolls and revisions that