Jobs Growth In May Was Anemic

The U.S. economy produced only 54,000 new jobs in May, disappointing many analysts and investors, who took the news as a sign of the weakness of the current economic recovery. The unemployment rate also crept up 0.1 point to 9.1%. The number of unemployed and underemployed still numbers 22.4 million.

The small gain came on the heels of three months of strong gains from February through March. In April, 232,000 workers were added to payrolls. The total in May was also pulled down by a loss of 29,000 government jobs, as strapped state and local governments continue to lay off workers. It was the third consecutive month of job losses in the government sector.

Private industry added 80,000 jobs with the largest gains coming from professional and business services and education and health care services. Leisure and hospitality lost 6,000 jobs, the first decline in many months. Manufacturing, which had also been posting good employment gains, lost 5,000 employees.