May Jobs Report

May Jobs Report
 By Jeffrey Sparshott  

The Labor Department said the pace of hiring slowed sharply in May. This is the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve’s June 14-15 meeting, where policy makers will decide their next step on interest rates. Here are highlights–or lowlights–from Friday’s report.

JOBS
38,000
U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 38,000 jobs in May, the worst monthly performance since September 2010—when the economy shed jobs. The latest number was well below the 158,000 forecast by economists. Over the past three months, employment growth has averaged 116,000, a big slowdown from the 219,000 average during the 12 months prior to May.
ON STRIKE
34,000
Some 31,500 Verizon Communications Inc. workers went on strike last month, a labor dispute that showed up in Friday’s jobs numbers. Employment in the information sector fell by 34,000 in May. Verizon struck a deal with the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at the end of last month, returning workers to their jobs. If that contract is ratified later this month, May’s telecom losses should reverse in the June employment report.
WAGES
$25.59
Average hourly earnings of private-sector workers rose 5 cents to $25.59 last month. That’s a 2.5% increase from a year earlier and a little better than the 2.1% average during the latest expansion. The average workweek, meanwhile, held steady at 34.4 hours last month. Wage growth has barely beat inflation in recent years, so a stronger uptick in take-home pay would be welcome.
UNEMPLOYMENT
4.7%
The unemployment rate was 4.7% in May, showing that 7.4 million Americans who wanted a job couldn’t find one last month. That was the lowest level since November 2007 but largely reflected more people dropping out of the workforce. The unemployment figure averaged 4.6% in the years before the recession then peaked at 10% in 2009. The current reading is close to the rate many economists consider full employment.
UNDEREMPLOYMENT
9.7%
The headline unemployment rate gets much of the attention, but it’s not the only measure of labor-market slack. An alternative rate, which includes people looking for work, stuck in part-time jobs or who have been discouraged about finding a job, held steady at 9.7% in May. That matches the lowest level since 2008.
UNDEREMPLOYMENT
62.6%
In May, the share of Americans participating in the workforce fell to 62.6%, the lowest level of the year. The rate started climbing in the fall and through the early months of the year, but that trend seems to have reversed. If the labor market gets stronger, that should draw more workers back, but an aging population means it likely won’t return to levels seen in the years just before the 2007-2009, when the level hovered around 66%.

http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/06/03/may-jobs-report-the-numbers/