U.S. businesses hired hundreds of thousands of additional workers last month, the Labor Department reported yesterday, a pace of job growth that if sustained would erase all the job losses of the recession by the end of the year.

The brightening labor market drew an additional hundreds of thousands of job seekers to look for work last month. Because the number of new hires roughly matched the additional number looking, the unemployment rate remained at 5.6 percent in May -- unchanged from April, but down from the recent peak of 6.3 percent last June.

Employers added 248,000 jobs in May across a variety of industries, and the department raised its previous estimates of job growth for March and April by a combined 74,000. That meant an average gain of more than 315,000 jobs in each of the past three months -- a booming pace after six weaker months...

More good economic news, for everyone but the Bush-haters: The U.S. economy added some 248,000 jobs in May, according to government figures. The Associated Press reports:

Payrolls swelled by almost 1 million in the last three months alone, the Labor Department said Friday. Employment figures for March and April were revised up to reflect the addition of 353,000 and 346,000 jobs respectively.

On his campaign Web site, John Kerry promises to create 10 million new jobs during his four-year term as president. That's a rate of 625,000 every three months, or only 66% of the past three months' performance under President Bush. Can we really afford to elect someone who sets his sights so low?