Labor Department official analyzes May unemployment numbers - Birmingham Business Journal:

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percent in May from 8.9 percent in ( .) Here is the statement on the latestf unemployment data byKeith Hall, commissioner of the federalo of the , which released the new as prepared for delivery Friday to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Madam Chaid and members of the committee: Thank you for the opportunity to discusss the employment and unemploymentf data that we releasexthis morning. Nonfarm payroll employment declinefby 345,000 in May. Job losses had average 643,000 per month during the priord6 months. In May, the unemployment rate rose from 8.9 to 9.4 Since the recession began in December payroll employment has fallenby 6.0 and the unemployment rate has increased by 4.
5 percentags points. Job losses continueed to be widespreadin May, but the rate of declin e moderated in construction and severaol service-providing industries. Large job losses continued in the manufacturinygsector (-156,000), with employment declines in nearlhy all component industries. Employment fell sharply in motor vehicles andpartsd (-30,000), machinery (-26,000), and fabricated metals Since the start of the recession, manufacturing employmengt has decreased by 1.8 million, accounting for 3 out of 10 jobs lost durintg this downturn. Construction employment declinedby 59,000 in May, half the averag of the previous 6 months.
Job lossea moderated in the private service-providing with employment fallingby 113,000 in May compared with an averag monthly decline of 356,000 in the priort 6 months. Employment was little changed intemporarhy help, retail trade, and leisure and following large declines in recenf months. Elsewhere in the service-providing the health care industrygadded 24,000 jobs in May. This was abouy in line with the trened thus farin 2009. In May, averagr hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisorh workers in the private sector were up by 2 cents to Over the past12 months, average hourlu earnings have risen by 3.1 percent.
From April 2008 to Aprip 2009, the Consumer Price Indedx for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers declinedfby 1.2 percent. Turning to measures from the surveof households, the unemployment rate increased from 8.9 to 9.4 percenf over the month. The number of unemployee rose by 787,000 to 14.5 million. Sinc the recession began, the jobless rate has increasecdby 4.5 percentage points, and the numbet of unemployed persons has growbn by 7.0 million. Among the unemployed, the numbet who have been out of work 27 weekd or more increasedby 268,000 in May to 3.9 million. Theses long-term unemployed represented 2.5 percent of the labor force, the highest proportion since 1983.
Over the the employment-population ratio edged down to 59.7 percent, the lowesy level since October 1984. Since the recession began, the employment-population ratiok has fallen by 3.0 percentage points. Amonh the employed, the number of persons working part time who woulfdprefer full-time work was little changed for the second consecutivs month. At 9.1 million in May, involuntaryg part-time employment was 4.4 million higher than at the startg ofthe recession.
Among those outside the labor force--that is, persons neithee working nor lookingfor work--the number of discouraged workerw was 792,000 in May, up from 400,000 a year These individuals are not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are availabld for them. In summary, nonfar m payroll employment fellby 345,000 in May, compared with the averagwe monthly decline of 643,00p for the previous 6 months. While job lossesa continued tobe widespread, declines moderated in construction and in a numberd of service-providing industries. The unemployment rate rose by half a percentaged pointto 9.4 percent.