Whoa! That’s all I had to say when I saw today’s May Job Report. Scary! According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate barreled to a startling 5.5%, the highest month-over-month gain we’ve seen since 1986.
Just last month the unemployment rate was 5% and we were trying to be optimistic. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 4.5% and we were downright exuberant. Now, 8.5 million people (and counting) are out of work, employers are clamping down on hiring, businesses are floundering and, if that’s not scary enough, the White House press secretary says they were surprised by the numbers.
Let’s have a deeper look at those surprising numbers.
In May, 861,000 more people joined the ranks of the unemployed–268,000 lost their jobs, 326,000 were re-entrants (back due to economic pressures) and 204,000 were new entrants (many of whom were new grads). Of the unemployed, 760,000 have been unemployed for 5 weeks or fewer; 197,000 have been unemployed for 27 or more weeks. In May, the average duration of unemployment was 16.6 weeks.
The retail, construction, manufacturing, business and professional services and temporary help services sectors lost the greatest number of jobs–27,000, 34,000, 26,000, 39,000 and 30,000, respectively.
The health care sector was the only real bright spot this month. The sector added 34,000 jobs in May, bringing its 12-month total gain to 383,000 jobs.
At the risk of scratching too hard for positive news, I have to add that the average hourly worker did see a 0.3% gain in his/her hourly pay rate, bringing them to an average rate of $17.94.
Want more? Read the full May Job Report
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