US employers created 217,000 jobs in May, according to figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total employment returned to a pre-recession level.
9.8 million Americans remained unemployed. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.3 per cent, the lowest level since September 2008. The jobless rate has dropped by 1.2 per cent over the past year.
The number of long-term unemployed – those out of work for at least 27 weeks – declined by 78,000 to 3.4 million. Those individuals accounted for 34.6 per cent of the unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed has fallen by 979,000 since May 2013, though the unemployment rate for this group still remains at a historically high.
192,000 Americans entered the labour force. The so-called labour force participation rate – the share of working-age population either employed or actively looking for a job – held steady at 62.8 per cent, the lowest level since the late 1970s.
The number of Americans employed part-time, because they were unable to find full-time work stood at 7.3 million.
Almost all of job growth came from the private sector. Professional and business services added 55,000 jobs. Health care and social assistance added 54,900 jobs. The leisure and hospitality sector created 39,000 positions. Employment in transport and warehousing rose by 16,400. Manufacturing added 10,000 jobs. Construction companies hired 6,000 workers.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls rose by 5 cents, or 0.2 per cent on the previous month, to 24.38 dollars, bringing year-on-year wage growth to 2.1 per cent. The average workweek was unchanged, at 34.5 hours.
Steady job growth means that the world’s largest economy is shaking off the colder-than-average winter, which hampered economic activity in the first months of the year. The US Federal Reserve is likely to taper its asset purchases by another 10 billion dollars to 35 billion dollars a month, when it meets in two weeks’ time.
photo: DVIDSHUB / flickr.com / CC BY 2.0
