June 07, 2013
June 7, 2013
The May jobs report was moderately positive, showing a gain of 175,000 jobs. Together with a small downward revision to prior months growth, this brings the average over the last three months to 155,000. This means that we are closing the 9 million jobs hole at a rate of roughly 660,000 a year. There was little change in the unemployment or employment data reported in the household survey.
Older workers continued to get the bulk of the employment gains, with employment of workers of age 55 accounting for 203,000 of the 319,000 gain in employment reported for May. Over the last year they have accounted for 1,205,000 of the 1,596,000 reported growth in employment.
It is also worth noting that restaurant employment continues to account for a hugely disproportionate share of the job growth adding 38,000 jobsin May after adding 34,000 in April. This is evidence of a weak job market. Restaurants always want to hire workers, but in a good job market the jobs go unfilled. In this job market workers see no alternatives.
For more, check out our latest Jobs Byte.
