Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 272,000 in May, and the unemployment rate changed
little at 4.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment continued
to trend up in several industries, led by health care; government; leisure and hospitality; and
professional, scientific, and technical services.
…
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised down by 5,000, from +315,000
to +310,000, and the change for April was revised down by 10,000, from +175,000 to +165,000. With
these revisions, employment in March and April combined is 15,000 lower than previously reported.
emphasis added
Click on graph for larger image.
The first graph shows the jobs added per month since January 2021.
Payrolls for March and April were revised down 15 thousand, combined.
The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.
In May, the year-over-year change was 2.76 million jobs. Employment was up solidly year-over-year.
The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.
The Labor Force Participation Rate decreased to 62.5% in May, from 62.7% in April. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.
The Employment-Population ratio decreased to 60.1% from 60.2% (blue line).
I’ll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.
The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate increased to 4.0% in May from 3.9% in April.
This was well above consensus expectations; however, March and April payrolls were revised down by 15,000 combined.
I’ll have more later …