The Monthly Employment Sitch
As bad as expected, but no worse than expected:
Employment Situation Summary: The unemployment rate rose from 5.0 to 5.5 percent in May, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down (-49,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.... The number of unemployed persons increased by 861,000 to 8.5 million in May, after seasonal adjustment, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage point to 5.5 percent. A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 6.9 million, and the jobless rate was 4.5 percent....
The number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons, at 5.2 million in May, was essentially unchanged over the month but was up by 764,000 over the past 12 months. These individuals indicated that they were working part time because their hours had been cut back or they were unable to find full-time jobs.... In May, about 1.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force, about the same as a year earlier. These individuals 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. Among the marginally attached, there were 400,000 discouraged workers in May, little changed from a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them....
Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in May (-49,000). Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has declined by 324,000....
In May, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek also was unchanged at 41.0 hours....
In May, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $17.94, seasonally adjusted.... Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 3.5 percent, and average weekly earnings rose by 3.2 percent...