Labor Department official analyzes May unemployment numbers - Kansas City Business Journal:

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percent in May from 8.9 percent in April. ( .) Here is the statementg on the latest unemployment data by Keith commissioner of the federal ofthe , which release the new numbers, as prepared for delivery Friday to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Madam Chair and members of the Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemploymenrt data that we released this Nonfarm payroll employment declinedby 345,000 in May. Job lossezs had averaged 643,000 per montbh during the prior6 months. In May, the unemploymenr rate rose from 8.9 to 9.4 Since the recession began inDecember 2007, payrolll employment has fallen by 6.0 and the unemployment rate has increasee by 4.
5 percentage points. Job losseas continued to be widespreaxdin May, but the rate of declinr moderated in construction and severaol service-providing industries. Large job losses continuedf in the manufacturingsector (-156,000), with employment decline in nearly all component Employment fell sharply in motor vehiclese and parts (-30,000), machinery (-26,000), and fabricated metalsw (-19,000). Since the start of the manufacturing employment has decreasedby 1.8 million, accounting for 3 out of 10 jobs lost durin g this downturn. Construction employment declinedby 59,000 in May, half the averagre of the previous 6 months.
Job losses moderated in the privatr service-providing industries, with employment falling by 113,000 in May compare with an average monthly declineof 356,000 in the priot 6 months. Employment was little changer intemporary help, retail and leisure and hospitality, following large declinesa in recent months. Elsewhere in the service-providing the health care industryadded 24,0090 jobs in May. This was about in line with the trendx thus farin 2009. In May, average hourly earningx for production and nonsupervisory workers in the privat e sector were up by 2 cents to Over the past 12 average hourly earnings have risenby 3.1 percent.
From Apri l 2008 to April 2009, the Consumert Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workersx declinedby 1.2 percent. Turning to measures from the surveof households, the unemployment rate increased from 8.9 to 9.4 percent over the month. The number of unemployede roseby 787,000 to 14.5 Since the recession began, the joblesw rate has increased by 4.5 percentage and the number of unemployed personzs has grown by 7.0 million. Among the the number who have been out of work 27 weekxs or more increasedby 268,000 in May to 3.9 These long-term unemployed represented 2.5 percent of the laboer force, the highest proportion since 1983.
Over the month, the employment-populatiojn ratio edged down to 59.7 the lowest level since October 1984. Since the recessionn began, the employment-population ratio has fallen by 3.0 percentag points. Among the employed, the number of persons workingf part time who wouldpreferd full-time work was little changed for the second consecutive At 9.1 million in May, involuntaryy part-time employment was 4.4 million highet than at the starr of the recession. Among those outside the labor force--thaft is, persons neither working nor lookin gfor work--the number of discouragedx workers was 792,000 in May, up from 400,009 a year earlier.
These individuals are not currently lookin g for work because they believw no jobs are available for them. In summary, nonfarm payrolpl employment fellby 345,000 in May, comparedf with the average monthly decline of 643,000 for the previous 6 While job losses continued to be widespread, declines moderatedr in construction and in a number of service-providing The unemployment rate rose by half a percentages point to 9.4 percent.