Gloomy May jobs report

Washington, D.C., United States (4E) – The United States economy added only 69,000 jobs in May, which was the smallest monthly gain in a year and far less than economists expected.

Moreover, the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent while the number of unemployed workers remained largely unchanged at 12.7 million.

The gloomy report dimmed hopes for a recovery in the jobs sector any time soon. The economy needs to add from 120,000 to 220,000 jobs monthly just to keep up with growth in the labor force. The creation of anything less than that does nothing to provide jobs for people who lost theirs during the recession.

Unemployment rates for adult men rose to 7.8 percent, while Hispanics saw their rate climb to 11 percent. Other major groups that showed little or no change included adult women at 7.4 percent, teenagers at 24.6 percent, whites at 7.4 percent and blacks at 13.6 percent.

People who are jobless for 27 weeks or longer are counted as long-term unemployed. Their numbers rose to 5.4 million in May from 5.1 million in April. Long-term unemployed individuals account for 42.8 percent of the unemployed.

However, the civilian labor force participation rate increased in May to 63.8 percent, up by 0.2 percentage points, the same amount it dropped in April, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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