I probably should say something about the May employment situation report:
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 280,000 in May, and theunemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care. Mining employment continued to decline.
That’s certainly better than if the number of jobs had decreased but the economy needs to continue to add jobs at that rate for years to bring the long-term unemployed back into the labor force. Other observations:
- Job growth continues to be in the wrong sectors. We’re adding jobs in retail, hospitality, and highly subsidized sectors. That suggests continued low wage growth in an environment of fiscal problems.
- The slight uptick in the unemployment rate is probably a good sign—it may be that people are starting to come back into the jobs market.
I should probably check out how this breaks out by region.
