People enter the Nassau County Mega Job Fair at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York October 7, 2014. A strike by Verizon workers likely crimped U.S. job gains in May, but employment growth should still be strong enough to confirm a tightening labor market and push the Federal Reserve closer to raising interest rates soon. Nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 164,000 jobs in May after rising by 160,000 in April, according to a Reuters survey of economists ahead of Friday’s closely watched employment report. The jobless rate is forecast slipping one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.9 percent. A government report last week suggested a month-long strike by Verizon workers could slice 35,100 jobs from payrolls in May. The striking workers, who returned to their jobs on Wednesday, were regarded as unemployed because they did not receive a salary during the payrolls survey week. Without the strike, […]