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发帖数: 1 | 1 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy unexpectedly added jobs in May after
suffering record losses in the prior month, offering the clearest signal
yet that the downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic was probably over,
though the road to recovery could be long.
The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday also
showed the jobless rate falling to 13.3% last month from 14.7% in April, a
post World War Two high. But the improvement was unequal, with the
unemployment rate for whites posting a record decline, but rising for blacks
and Asians.
The report followed on the heels of surveys showing consumer confidence,
manufacturing and services industries stabilizing. Businesses have reopened
after shuttering in mid-March to slow the spread of COVID-19.
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Surprise May U.S. payrolls rise fans hopes for economic recovery
“The country has turned the corner from the pandemic and the recession it
created for now, but all the workers who lost their paychecks will find it
difficult to regain their place in society as many of these jobs are gone
forever,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York.
“It took years for the economy to grow enough to find jobs for those
unemployed in the last recession, and it will take years again this time to
do the same.”
The survey of establishments showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.509 million
jobs last month after a record plunge of 20.7 million in April. Economists
polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls falling by 8 million jobs. They had
expected the survey of households to show the unemployment rate jumping to
19.8%.
President Donald Trump, who had a turbulent week amid nationwide protests
over police brutality and racial inequality, quickly took credit for the
surprise labor market turnaround.
“Really Big Jobs Report. Great going President Trump (kidding but true)!”
Trump wrote on Twitter.
The unemployment rate for blacks increased one-tenth of a percentage point
to 16.8%. In contrast, the jobless rate for whites fell to 12.4% from 14.2%
in April. Economists believe the unemployment rate peaked in May, but see it
remaining above 10% when Americans head to the polls on Nov. 3.
Stocks on Wall Street rallied on the report. The dollar rose against a
basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices fell.
FILE PHOTO: A "We're Hiring" sign advertising jobs is seen at the entrance
of a restaurant, as Miami-Dade County eases some of the lockdown measures
put in place during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Miami,
Florida, U.S., May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo
DEEP HOLE
Even with May’s rebound, the hole is deep. Part-time workers accounted for
two-fifths of the increase in employment. Payrolls are nearly 20 million
below their pre-COVID-19 level. The unemployment rate has risen 9.8
percentage points and the number of unemployed is up 15.2 million since
February.
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the
employment report, also noted a continuing problem with misclassification by
respondents. A large number of people misclassified themselves as being “
employed but absent from work.” Without this misclassification, the May
unemployment rate would have been about 16%.
A broader measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work
but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot
find full-time employment, dipped to 21.2% in May from 22.8% in April.
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The sharp rebound in employment is in stark contrast to a persistently high
number of people filing weekly claims for jobless benefits.
Economists said the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, part of a
historic fiscal package worth nearly $3 trillion, offering businesses loans
that can be partially forgiven if used for employee salaries, artificially
juiced employment. They noted many sectors added jobs in May, though
businesses remained shut.
“Once the PPP money runs out, there could be another round of layoffs
especially in services which was a big beneficiary of the government program
,” said Sung Won Sohn, a business economics professor at Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles.
(Graphic - Which sectors gained jobs in May?: here)
Slideshow (2 Images)
Reuters Graphic
Employment in May was boosted by restaurants and bars, which added 1.4
million jobs after losing 6 million in April and March. But payrolls
continued to decline in the accommodation industry in May, with another 148,
000 jobs lost.
Hiring in the construction industry increased by 464,000 jobs last month,
recouping about half of April’s decline. There were also gains in
employment in education and health services, retail trade, manufacturing,
professional and business services, financial activities and wholesale trade.
But government payrolls dropped by 585,000 in May, with the declines in
state and local governments, whose budgets have been crushed in the fight
against COVID-19. There were more job losses in the information, mining,
transportation and warehousing industries.
The labor force participation rate, the proportion of working-age Americans
who have a job or are looking for one, rose to 60.8% last month from 60.2%
in April, which was the lowest rate since January 1973. The employment-to-
population ratio, viewed as a measure of an economy’s ability to create
employment, rose to 52.8% from a record low 51.3% in April.
With the rebound in lower-wage industry jobs, average hourly earnings fell 1
.0% after shooting up 4.7% in April. That lowered the annual increase in
wages to 6.7% in May from 8.0% in April. The workweek averaged 34.7 hours,
up from 34.2 hours.
Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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