U.S. employers ramped up hiring in June after a sluggish spring, signaling renewed momentum in the labor market that could quiet fears about a broader economic slowdown even as global market turbulence casts a shadow over the outlook. 

Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 287,000 in June, the Labor Department said Friday, the strongest month of hiring since last October. The figure was boosted by the end of a strike at Verizon Communications Inc. that the agency had said shaved about 35,000 jobs from payrolls in May. 

Revisions showed U.S. employers added 6,000 fewer jobs in May and April than previously estimated. May's payrolls figure was revised down to a meager gain of 11,000, the weakest month of hiring since the U.S. stopped shedding jobs in 2010. 

Including June's strong rebound, hiring in the second quarter averaged 147,000 per month, down from 196,000 in the first quarter and 229,000 in 2015. 

The unemployment rate, calculated from a separate survey of American households, rose to 4.9% in June from 4.7% in May, partly retracing its drop from 5.0% in April. The workforce expanded in June after shrinking the prior month, and the labor-force participation rate ticked up to 62.7%. 

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected employers would add 165,000 jobs in June and that the jobless rate would edge up to 4.8%. 

Friday's report reflected the state of the U.S. job market as of mid-June. As a result, it did not account for any effects from the U.K. vote on June 23 to exit the European Union, a decision that jolted markets globally and strengthened the dollar. 

The impact of Brexit on the U.S. economy will begin to come into focus over the coming months. 

On the domestic front, a tightening job market has put upward pressure on wage growth as employers compete over a smaller pool of available workers. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose by two cents in June to $25.61 and were up 2.6% compared with a year earlier. 

The average workweek last month was unchanged at 34.4 hours for the fifth straight month. 

Job gains in June were broad across nearly every sector, including a 265,000 gain for private payrolls. 

The standard unemployment rate can be an imperfect measure of overall slack in the labor market. A broader measure of unemployment and underemployment, including Americans who are working part-time because they can't find full-time jobs, ticked down to 9.6% in June from 9.7% in May. 

The slowdown in hiring this spring came amid other signs of softness in the U.S. economy, including a sharp drop in business investment, prompting worry about the possibility of a broader downturn. At the same time, gauges of factory activity stabilized and a rebound in consumer spending pointed to a pickup for overall economic growth in the second quarter after a slow start to the year. 

Those mixed signals, in particular the unexpectedly weak May reading on hiring, put extra attention on Friday's jobs report to help clarify the outlook. 

"Is the markedly reduced pace of hiring in April and May a harbinger of a persistent slowdown in the broader economy?" Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen asked in a June speech. "Or will monthly payroll gains move up toward the solid pace they maintained earlier this year and in 2015?" 

The latest report comes exactly four months before the U.S. presidential election. Democrat Hillary Clinton has sought to align herself with President Barack Obama and his record on issues including the seven-year-old postrecession economic recovery, while Republican Donald Trump called the May jobs report "terrible" and a "bombshell." 

Steady job growth at a somewhat slower pace wouldn't necessarily be a sign that the economy is in danger of falling into recession. The tempo of hiring could decelerate as the job market tightens and the economy approaches full employment. Estimates vary, but economists surveyed by the Journal earlier this year on average estimated the U.S. only needed to add 145,000 jobs each month to keep up with growth in the workforce. 

The Fed raised its benchmark short-term interest rate in December after holding it near zero for seven years through a financial crisis, a deep recession and a frustratingly slow recovery. But the U.S. central bank has held rates steady so far this year in the face of mixed economic data, financial-market turbulence and worries about foreign economic growth. 

Policy makers are scheduled to meet in late July, but officials might opt to wait for more information about the state of the economy and the effects of Brexit before raising interest rates a second time. Additional policy meetings are planned in September, early November and mid-December.