BREAKING: U.S. added 430,000 jobs in May; unemployment rate dips to 9.7%

[jefferson_dem]

The economy adds 431,000 jobs in May, but 411,000 are Census workers; unemployment rate falls to 9.7%, government says.

http://money.cnn.com/

Employment Situation Summary
Transmission of material in this release is embargoed USDL-10-0748
until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, June 4, 2010

Technical information:
Household data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/ces

Media contact: [phone] * [e-mail]


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- MAY 2010


Total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 431,000 in May, reflecting
the hiring of 411,000 temporary employees to work on Census 2010, the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Private-sector em-
ployment changed little (+41,000). Manufacturing, temporary help ser-
vices, and mining added jobs, while construction employment declined.
The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons was 15.0 million in May. The unem-
ployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent, the same rate as in the
first 3 months of 2010. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for blacks (15.5
percent) declined in May, while the rates for adult men (9.8 percent),
adult women (8.1 percent), teenagers (26.4 percent), whites (8.8 per-
cent), and Hispanics (12.4 percent) showed little change. The jobless
rate for Asians was 7.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables
A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In May, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks
and over) was about unchanged at 6.8 million. These individuals made
up 46.0 percent of unemployed persons, about the same as in April.
(See table A-12.)

The number of unemployed reentrants to the labor force fell by 286,000
in May, offsetting an increase in April. (See table A-11.)

In May, the civilian labor force participation rate edged down by 0.2
percentage point to 65.0 percent. The employment-population ratio was
about unchanged over the month at 58.7 percent. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (some-
times referred to as involuntary part-time workers) declined by
343,000 in May to 8.8 million. These individuals were working part
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were un-
able to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force
in May, unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally
adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the
prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had
not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table
A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged
workers in May, up by 291,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently
looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The remaining 1.1 million persons marginally attached to the labor
force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey
for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
(See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 431,000 in May, reflecting
the addition of 411,000 temporary workers for Census 2010. Total pri-
vate employment showed little change over the month (+41,000), fol-
lowing increases in March and April. In May, manufacturing, tempo-
rary help services, and mining added jobs, while employment in con-
struction declined. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment increased by 29,000 over the month. Factory
employment has risen by 126,000 over the past 5 months. Within manu-
facturing, both fabricated metals and machinery added jobs in May.

Temporary help services added 31,000 jobs over the month; employment
in the industry has risen by 362,000 since September 2009.

Employment in mining continued to increase in May, with a gain of
10,000. Support activities for mining accounted for 8,000 of the over-
the-month increase. Since October 2009, mining employment has expanded
by 50,000.

Health care employment was little changed in May (+8,000). Over the
prior 12 months, health care employment had increased by an average
of 20,000 per month.

In May, employment in construction declined by 35,000, largely off-
setting gains in the industry in the prior 2 months. May's job loss
was spread throughout the sector.

Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale
trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information,
financial activities, and leisure and hospitality showed little or
no change in May.

Government employment rose by 390,000 in May. The Federal government
hired 411,000 temporary workers for Census 2010, bringing total tem-
porary census staffing during the payroll survey reference period to
564,000. Employment in state government excluding education decreased
by 13,000.

In May, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm pay-
rolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours. The manufacturing workweek
for all employees increased by 0.3 hour to 40.5 hours. The average
workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private non-
farm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 33.5 hours over the month. (See
tables B-2 and B-7.)

Average hourly earnings of all employees in the private nonfarm sector
increased by 7 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $22.57 in May. Over the past
12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9 percent. In
May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsuper-
visory employees increased by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $18.99. (See
tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised
from +230,000 to +208,000, while the change for April remained at
+290,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

[vaberella]

1. Good stuff. Little, by little. The economy is getting better.

[Skittles]

51. LOL

this is a very bad jobs report

[Clio the Leo]

2. 411,000 were census workers....

.... important to keep in mind as we compare to NEXT month's numbers, which likely wont be this high.

http://twitter.com/WestWingReport/status/15412201334

[jefferson_dem]

5. Thanks.

I've provided a bit more detail in the OP and given the bouncy green ball a rest.

[Clio the Leo]

6. lol ....

.... well, it IS good news for those 20,000 non-census workers. I'm sure they're bouncing.

My question: Does this not reflect the "more people looking for work again" notion?

[jefferson_dem]

7. Sure it does.

All those census workers are back on the job hunt. Let's hope there are private market positions available for them in the next couple months.

[goclark]

22. How much do the Census Workers get per hour etc.

[harkadog]

23. Generally $10 -$15 a hour depending on the job and what area you are in.

Supervisors get a bit more.

[quiller4]

25. In my region the beginning pay was $18/hr.

My ex was working as a supervisor for $24/hr.

[harkadog]

26. Good pay. Much better than the range in Arizona

[Brickbat]

39. I'm getting $10.50 an hour, and working at the very most 10 hours a week.

No benefits, either, of course.

[goclark]

49. My nephew is 18, is it too late to get jobs?

[paulk]

50. it varies

my wife has worked 3 times for the census since last year and got paid over $16 an hour

which sounds pretty good except they had hired too many people for the amount of work to be done, and consequently no one really got enough hours to make much of a difference.

she's made all of $350. so far this year - but it makes her a statistic - technically "employed", so it looks good when the job numbers come out

[quiller4]

24. Why are all these census jobs counted in May when so much census

hiring took place in April? In my region most of the census hiring was completed by mid-April and some (including my ex) have already completed their part-time assignments.

[AllentownJake]

29. Telephone survey

You don't call 50,000 people in one day.

[flpoljunkie]

3. We could use some good news. Thanks, jefferson_dem! Manufacturing jobs are up.

Erin Burnett pointed this out on Morning Joe--as something hopeful in the jobs repor.

[paulk]

12. May job reports aren't good news

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/unemployment-rate-may-201_n_600432.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-were-falling-into-a-d_b_600571.html

[AllentownJake]

46. Burnett is a twit

A pretty twit but stll a twit.

[DrToast]

4. Sadly this is a disappointing number in terms of jobs

The good news, however, is that incomes were up 0.3%, which is a good amount. Avg workweek length was up, too. So the people working are working more and for more money.

[ProSense]

9. It's really not as bad as people are making it out to be

Here's ADP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US economy created 55,000 new private-sector jobs in May, the fourth consecutive month of increases amid a slow recovery from recession, payrolls firm ADP said Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted number was shy of the 60,000 new jobs expected by most analysts.

But ADP revised sharply higher the April jobs gain, to 65,000, from its original estimate of 32,000.

According to ADP, the service sector, which accounts for about 70 percent of output in the world's largest economy, spawned 78,000 jobs in May, the fourth month running of increases.

The goods-producing sector saw the only decline in employment, shedding 23,000 jobs.

<...>

[depakid]

10. The official numbers beg to differ (which has been the case recently)

Anyone interested can see the BLS numbers for themselves here:

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.cpseea1.txt

41,000 private sector jobs created (150,000 = the break even point for population increase).

The unemployment rate fell- not due to jobs created, but because many more people became discouraged and stopped looking for work in the last 6 months.

[AllentownJake]

30. 5 months after a quarter with +5% GDP growth

Yes, it is as bad as they are making it out to be.

Remember that lagging indicator spewed for a while on here, yeah that talking point is dying...a slow death.

[DrDan]

8. good news! We need 150K jobs to stay level . . . so this is about 3 months of jobs

oops - guess not such good news - DOW futures down 200

[jefferson_dem]

11. WH "spin" from Christina Romer

The Employment Situation in May

Posted by Christina Romer on June 04, 2010 at 09:30 AM EDT
Today’s employment situation report shows continued signs of labor market recovery. Payroll employment rose for the fifth month in a row, and the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 9.7 percent. While these are encouraging developments, we clearly have a very long way to go until the labor market is fully recovered. It is essential that we continue our efforts to move in the right direction and generate steady, strong job gains and continuing declines in unemployment.

Payroll employment rose 431,000 in May. As expected, most of this increase was due to temporary hiring associated with the decennial Census. Total private employment increased by 41,000, somewhat lower than the rate of increase in previous months. Building on the steady gains in previous months, private employment is now nearly 1/2 million higher than in December 2009. Both manufacturing and service-providing industries showed job gains; employment in construction and state and local government, however, fell noticeably. Average weekly hours, which are another important indicator of labor market healing, rose by one-tenth of an hour in May and are up four-tenths of an hour since last December.

The unemployment rate, which had risen in April, fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 9.7 percent. Both the labor force and the household measure of employment fell in May, following tremendous gains in the previous months. Consistent with the rise in average weekly hours, the number of full-time workers rose for the fourth month in a row and the number of people working part-time for economic reasons declined sharply.

The fact that the unemployment rate fell and private employment rose are obviously encouraging signs that recovery continues. At the same time, the continued high level of unemployment and the slowdown in private sector job growth emphasize the need for continuing vigilance. The Administration strongly supports targeted actions to spur private sector job creation and prevent continued reductions in state and local government employment. Tax incentives for clean energy manufacturing and energy efficiency, extensions of unemployment insurance and other key income support programs, a fund to encourage small business lending, and fiscal relief for state and local governments are essential measures to ensure a more rapid, widespread recovery.

As always, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report, positive or negative. The monthly employment and unemployment numbers are volatile and subject to substantial revision. Emphasis should be placed on persistent trends rather than month-to-month fluctuations.



http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/04/employment-situation-may

[depakid]

13. I like this bit of spin

-worthy of someone like Ari:

"The fact that the unemployment rate fell and private employment rose are obviously encouraging signs that recovery continues."

The reason why the unemployment number fell is not encouraging; more Americans are too discouraged to look for a job than last year at this time (1.1 million in May, an increase of 291,000 from a year earlier).

Though I suppose one could say that at least the US not losing jobs in terms of raw numbers- which under McCain we likely would be- the US nevertheless lost in terms of net jobs vis a vis population growth.

All in all, not that bad a spin piece. Kinda had to say & sell something.

[jefferson_dem]

17. That's a bit too "doom and gloomy".

In my opinion, the reality lies somewhere in-between you and Romer. Net job creation is always "good". The harsh reality is, however, that this report is far less "good" than we had hoped for. It's all about the expectations...

[AllentownJake]

31. The job creation number is lower than the amount of people entering the workforce

Not Good.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. When you really analyze it closely.....it's a horrible jobs number

of the 431k created about 411k were census workers.

This economic recovery is anything but sustainable. Our whole economic structure is unsustainable when you think about it.

It's not Obama's fault, but he will get the blame.

[JoePhilly]

35. Better than LAST May, when we lost something like 400k jobs.

[Beacool]

15. Nothing much to celebrate.

Taking out the temporary census jobs leaves only 20,000 private sector jobs created.

;(

[VMI Dem]

16. Obama's greatest achievement will be bringing this economy back from the brink.

He deserves full credit for us not being in a depression right now.

[humbled_opinion]

40. Sadly, you can't prove something that never happened.

I mean we can talk all day long and remind people but unless Obama actually holds someone accountable for the economic failures then both sides score political talking points.

[AtomicKitten]

18. Bragging rights: We're continuing to move in the right direction. nt

[Cha]

20. Exactly!

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sarcasmo]

19. How many unemployment benefits ran out?

[bigwillq]

21. So?

So, although the numbers my not live up to everyone's expectations, and there's still a long way to go on the road to economic recovery, just think: One of those jobs could've went to a friend, a neighbor or a family member. Even if some are just temporary, a family may be able to breathe a sigh of relief for a moment, put food on the table or catch up on bills.

I'm sure there are many who are happy that they're one of the 430,000. I am happy for them.

[AllentownJake]

28. Such utter trite nonsense when reading a Macro-Economic Report

Fucking ridiculous, it is a telephone survey of 50,000 people. It isn't real numbers but an estimate to begin with.

It is a Macro report not a Micro report and it is a train wreck.

Would have been a great report in January, 5 months after a quarter with 5% supposed GDP growth and it makes my eyes hurt.

If this was 2011 not 2010 and a census year the number would be barely positive.

[AllentownJake]

27. This report was a disaster

Everyone know the report is a disaster. Even with the games they play they couldn't make this report look prettier. It was fucking awful.

If you subtract out the Census workers you are left with around 40,000 jobs. If you take out the Birth/Death model you go negative.

We are now 5 months out of a supposed 5% increase in GDP. These numbers are fucking awful in that time frame.

Lagging indicator spewers are now scratching their head in what is going on.

The only reason it went to 9.7% is they subtracted people from the labor pool. Statistically disapearing people once again.

The fact that this awful report has 12 recs shows the IQ level on this site right now.

[COLGATE4]

32. Which is why

the Dow was down well over 300 points yesterday. It's not good news.

[AllentownJake]

33. Awful news

Hell I was expecting them to have 100,000 private sector jobs added and I'm one of the doom and gloomers. In no way did I think 40,000 which means that reality is even worse than what I think.

Soak that in for a minute and get back to me on this report.

[JoePhilly]

36. How does May 2010 compare to May of 2009? Better or Worse?

[AllentownJake]

37. That isn't the question

In May 2009 we were in the period of a downturn and GDP growth was negative. Job losses would be expected in a report.

Right now, historically, if you are looking at GDP growth there should be a larger private sector hiring.

5 months after GDP growth hit its height (we aren't going to see the 4th quarter numbers again this year), you should see larger hiring. Not what you are seeing here.

Like I said, the lagging indicator crowd is having some problems right now, and that is the primary reason for the markets violent reaction yesterday.

Jobs are supposed to be a lagging indicator by most traditional economic assumptions, and the lagging is continuing to lag, long since it should have stopped lagging.

GDP growth could go negative again with stimulus withdraw in the 3rd and 4th quarter...with that jobs will turn negative.

The fundamentals are the same as 2008, the government is supporting the economy. Too much debt in the system.

[JoePhilly]

38. First, the market is currently in a constant state of knee jerk.

If it hits say 9600 ... start buying.

As for jobs, this is the chart I look at ....

http://www.ny.frb.org/research/directors_charts/ibcd_09.pdf

Upper left corner in particular. We've added more jobs than we lost in 6 of the last 7 months. And the change in the trend line is dramatic.

Companies are slow to hire in this recovery because of 2 factors ... (1) increased productivity of current workers (scared people work harder and longer hours) and (2) companies are still not confident that we're out of the woods, probably take another quarter or two.

And the stimulus isn't about to run out. In fact, it was designed to be spread out through 2011.

[AllentownJake]

42. I think you just made my point

A knee jerk market shows terrible fundamentals and lack of confidence. We are in the same place we were 2 years ago with lower employment and more government debt. No progress was made.

[humbled_opinion]

41. Maybe its true get used to this unemployment rate.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37132888/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

[AllentownJake]

43. Long term that will lead to extreme political instability and violence nt.

[Beacool]

44. Some more........

Job Data Casts Pall Over Economic Recovery

By MICHAEL POWELL
Published: June 4, 2010

A shadow fell across America’s economic recovery on Friday, as the Labor Department’s monthly report showed that job growth was weak in the private sector, provoking a precipitous sell-off in the stock market.

The headline numbers for May suggested reason for optimism — employers added 431,000 jobs and the jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent, from 9.9 percent in April. But the underlying numbers showed that almost all of the growth came from the 411,000 workers hired by the federal government to help with the Census. Most of those jobs will end in a few months.

By contrast, the private sector created 41,000 positions, far short of expectations for 150,000 to 180,000 jobs. And the number of long-term unemployed, those Americans out of work for 27 or more weeks, remained at its highest level since the Labor Department began collecting such data in the 1940s.

----------

Several economists expressed concern about the shape of a future constrained by a weakening Europe and slow consumer spending. Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary for President Bill Clinton, placed the chance of the United States slipping back into recession at 50 percent; while his is a minority view, Mr. Reich gave voice to the more bearish take.

“The consumers are tapped out, we’ve got a fiscal drag from cities and states which are just beginning to lay off people in great numbers, and most of the buying has been consumers replacing household items — I just don’t see the oomph,” he said, in a view that drew some private assents from within the Obama administration Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/business/economy/05jobs.html?ref=todayspaper

[AllentownJake]

45. Asking people in too much debt to borrow and spend more is failing

I am shocked.

[Beacool]

47. People appear to be buying mostly the household items that they need.

I think that most people are being cautious in their spending. Those who are unemployed may simply not have the money, but others are just afraid of losing their jobs and don't want to overspend.

:-(

[AllentownJake]

48. Adjusting to new realities is not bad

Government trying to go back to an unsustainable economic model is

[agentS]

52. It's "good" but we still need to go "BIG"

To get this economy out of its funk we have to complete "reset" the economy from war/consumer spending model and go BIG.
First, delete 100% of all consumer debt. Just hit "delete" on all student, medical, mortgage, and car loans. That'll free up the assets needed and get debt baggage off the banks' bank.
Second, gear our economy towards a titanic yet reachable within 100 or less years' goal. Something really big, like space colonization or total end to poverty. Something with a PURPOSE!!! Because right now, we make a lot of stuff (US is still #1 in manufacturing) but what is for? Really, why do we work? For ourselves? For the now?

That's all I got. I say go BIG to win the game. What say y'all?

[AllentownJake]

53. It isn't good

After the money spent and debt taken on publicly, this is outright horrible.

[Geek_Girl]

54. I think the economy was getting better but global woes are bringing as back into a recession.

I think we are headed for a double dip recession.

[IndianaGreen]

55. Census Bureau added 411,000 temporary jobs

As Robert Reich said, we are heading into a double dip recession. The job numbers are dismal!