Slowest hiring by private US companies
By Jeannine Aversa |
June 5, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
JOB creation by private companies grew at the slowest pace in the United States since the start of this year, as a wave of census hiring lifted payrolls by 431,000 in May. The unemployment rate dipped to 9.7 percent as people gave up searching for work.
US Labor Department's new employment snapshot released yesterday suggested that outside of the burst of hiring of temporary census workers by the federal government many private employers are wary of bulking up their work forces.
That indicates the economic recovery may not bring relief fast enough for millions of Americans who are unemployed.
Virtually all the job creation in May came from the hiring of 411,000 census workers. Such hiring peaked in May and will begin tailing off in June.
By contrast, hiring by private employers, the backbone of the economy, slowed sharply. They added just 41,000 jobs, down from 218,000 in April and the fewest since January.
"Although the economic outlook is improving, the recovery is still pretty tepid," said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.
President Barack Obama acknowledged that temporary census jobs drove the overall payroll gain. But he said private sector hiring is growing. He noted five straight months of job gains after devastating losses from the recession. He said the recovery is still in its early stages, and that it will be uneven in the months ahead.
"Things never go completely in a smooth line," Obama said during a speech yesterday. "This report is a sign that our economy is getting stronger by the day."
The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate survey than the payroll figures, fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent. The dip partly reflected 322,000 people leaving the labor force for a variety of reasons.
All told, 15 million people were unemployed in May. Counting people who have given up looking for work and part-timers who would rather be working full time, the "underemployment" rate fell to 16.6 percent in May from 17.1 percent in April.
US Labor Department's new employment snapshot released yesterday suggested that outside of the burst of hiring of temporary census workers by the federal government many private employers are wary of bulking up their work forces.
That indicates the economic recovery may not bring relief fast enough for millions of Americans who are unemployed.
Virtually all the job creation in May came from the hiring of 411,000 census workers. Such hiring peaked in May and will begin tailing off in June.
By contrast, hiring by private employers, the backbone of the economy, slowed sharply. They added just 41,000 jobs, down from 218,000 in April and the fewest since January.
"Although the economic outlook is improving, the recovery is still pretty tepid," said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.
President Barack Obama acknowledged that temporary census jobs drove the overall payroll gain. But he said private sector hiring is growing. He noted five straight months of job gains after devastating losses from the recession. He said the recovery is still in its early stages, and that it will be uneven in the months ahead.
"Things never go completely in a smooth line," Obama said during a speech yesterday. "This report is a sign that our economy is getting stronger by the day."
The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate survey than the payroll figures, fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent. The dip partly reflected 322,000 people leaving the labor force for a variety of reasons.
All told, 15 million people were unemployed in May. Counting people who have given up looking for work and part-timers who would rather be working full time, the "underemployment" rate fell to 16.6 percent in May from 17.1 percent in April.
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