Retail

Business Highlights

___ Unemployment hits 49-year low as US employers step up hiring WASHINGTON (AP) — The April U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department showed that solid economic growth is still encouraging strong hiring nearly a decade into the recovery from the Great Recession.

Stop & Shop workers reach new deal after strike

Unionized supermarket workers in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island have ratified a new contract that came out of an 11-day strike at New England's biggest grocery chain.

Business Highlights

___ Many college grads feel their grip on middle class loosening WASHINGTON (AP) — A college degree has long been a ticket to the U.S. middle class.