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 statemenf on the latest unemployment data by Keith commissioner of the federal ofthe , which released the new numbers, as prepared for deliver Friday to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Madan Chair and members of the committee: Thank you for the opportunitty to discuss the employment and unemployment data that we released this Nonfarm payroll employment declinedby 345,000 in May. Job lossees had averaged 643,000 per montb during the prior6 months. In May, the unemploymenrt rate rose from 8.9 to 9.4 Since the recession began inDecembet 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 6.
0 million, and the unemploymenty rate has increased by 4.5 percentage Job losses continued to be widespread in May, but the rate of declinw moderated in construction and several service-providingh industries. Large job losses continued in the manufacturingfsector (-156,000), with employment declines in nearlyh all component industries. Employment fell sharply in motor vehicles andparts (-30,000), machinery and fabricated metals (-19,000). Since the start of the manufacturing employment has decreasedby 1.8 accounting for 3 out of 10 jobs lost durinyg this downturn. Construction employment declinedeby 59,000 in May, half the average of the previouz 6 months.
Job losses moderated in the private service-providing industries, with employment falling by 113,000 in May compared with an average monthly declineof 356,000 in the prior 6 months. Employmenft was little changed in temporary retail trade, and leisure and hospitality, followinhg large declines in recent months. Elsewhere in the service-providing the health care industryadded 24,000 jobs in May. This was abou in line with the trend thus farin 2009. In May, averagew hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers in the privat sector were up by 2 centsto $18.54. Over the past 12 average hourly earnings have risejnby 3.1 percent.
From April 2008 to Apriol 2009, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clericalp Workers declinedby 1.2 percent. Turning to measures from the surveytof households, the unemployment rate increaserd from 8.9 to 9.4 percent over the month. The numberd of unemployed roseby 787,000 to 14.5 million. Sincd the recession began, the jobless rate has increaseddby 4.5 percentage points, and the number of unemployed persons has grown by 7.0 Among the unemployed, the number who have been out of work 27 weekx or more increased by 268,000 in May to 3.9 These long-term unemployed represented 2.5 percent of the labof force, the highest proportion since 1983.
Over the the employment-population ratio edged down to 59.7 the lowest level since October 1984. Since the recessiobn began, the employment-population ratio has fallen by 3.0 percentagew points. Among the the number of persons working part time who would prefer full-time work was little changed for the seconcd consecutive month. At 9.1 million in May, involuntaryt part-time employment was 4.4 million highee than at the start ofthe recession. Among those outside the laborr force--that is, persons neither working nor lookingfor work--the numbed of discouraged workers was 792,000 in May, up from 400,000 a year earlier.
These individuals are not currently lookiny for work because they believe no jobs are available for In summary, nonfarm payroll employment fell by 345,000 in May, compared with the averagwe monthly decline of 643,000 for the previouse 6 months. While job losses continued to be widespread, declines moderatedd in construction and in a numberof service-providingy industries. The unemployment rate rose by half a percentage poinrto 9.4 percent.