May 1994 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Unemployment fell in May and employment increased further, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The nation's jobless rate was 6.0 percent, down from 6.4 percent in April.

The number of nonfarm payroll jobs, as measured by the survey of employers, was up by 191,000 in May. About 70,000 of this modest increase stemmed from a return of workers who had been on strike. Monthly job growth had averaged about 260,000 in the previous 4 months.

Total employment, as measured by the household survey, showed an increase of 534,000 in May. This strong gain followed slower growth in the prior 3 months and brings the average monthly increase since January to 225,000.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number unemployed and the unemployment rate fell in May. At 7.9 million, about 500,000 fewer persons were jobless than in the previous month. The unemployment rate--6.0 percent--was 0.4 percentage point lower than in April and down 0.7 point from January. (See tables A and A-1.)

The jobless rate for adult men, which had been trending downward since January, fell 0.4 percentage point in May to 5.2 percent. The rate for adult women, which had dropped markedly in April, edged down further to 5.4 percent. The rate for teenagers, after rising in April, fell back to 18.3 percent, near the levels prevailing in the first quarter. The rates for whites (5.2 percent) and Hispanics (9.5 percent) declined over the month, while that for blacks (11.5 percent) was about unchanged. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

The average (mean) and median measures of unemployment duration in May--19.6 and 9.2 weeks, respectively--showed little or no change, as the number of persons in both the short-term (less than 5 weeks) and long-term (15 weeks or more) duration categories fell. The number of unemployed job losers fell by about 260,000 in May, largely because of a decline among those on temporary layoff. (See tables A-5 and A-6.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment, which had shown only very modest growth since the beginning of the year, rose by 534,000 in May to 122.9 million. The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the working-age population with jobs--rose 0.2 percentage point to 62.5 percent. During the January- April period, the ratio had been either 62.2 or 62.3 percent. (See table A-1.) A total of 7.3 million workers (not seasonally adjusted), or 6.0 percent of all employed persons, held two or more jobs in May (table A-8).

The number of persons in the labor force in May--130.8 million--was about the same as in the previous month. The labor force participation rate was 66.5 percent in May, also little changed. (See table A-1.)

Discouraged Workers (Household Survey Data)

The number of discouraged workers--persons who wanted jobs but had given up searching because they did not think they could find work--totaled 436,000 (not seasonally adjusted) in May. (See table A-8.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 191,000 in May to a level of 112.8 million, seasonally adjusted. (See table B-1.) About 70,000 of this increase resulted from workers returning to their jobs following a strike in the trucking industry. Since December, about 1.2 million jobs have been added to nonfarm payrolls.

Employment in construction rose by only 12,000 in May, following unusually large gains in the previous 2 months and weather-related weakness in the winter months. Mining continued its pattern of small over-the-month job declines. Employment in this industry has been on a fairly steady downtrend since June of 1990, with a loss of about 110,000 jobs over the period.

Manufacturing employment was about unchanged over the month. Factory job growth has totaled about 50,000 since last September. May was characterized by generally small changes among the individual manufacturing industries. In the durable goods industries, employment in fabricated metals and machinery continued to increase, while instruments continued to lose jobs. Among nondurable goods industries, printing and publishing and rubber and miscellaneous plastics products maintained their pattern of small employment growth.

Employment in the services industry rose by 80,000 over the month, with much of the gain concentrated in educational services, agricultural services, and motion pictures. Business services, which has paced recent job growth, added few jobs in May, with particular weakness in personnel supply. After recording 2 consecutive months of strong growth, employment in health services slowed.

In transportation and public utilities, employment in trucking was up in May even after taking strike returns into account. Wholesale trade employment edged up over the month, following stronger growth in the first 4 months of the year.

After 2 months of large job gains, employment in retail trade moderated in May, rising by 31,000. Employment increases continued in furniture stores, auto dealers, eating and drinking places, and building materials and garden supplies. Following a decline in April, employment in food stores rose by 9,000 in May.

Finance, insurance, and real estate registered its first job loss in nearly 2 years, with employment falling by 15,000 over the month. Government employment was fairly flat over the month; reductions in the Federal government reflected a new round of buyouts.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

Average weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls were 34.9 in May, up 0.2 hour after seasonal adjustment. Weekly and overtime hours in manufacturing each edged down by 0.1 hour to 42.1 and 4.7 hours, respectively. Both the manufacturing workweek and factory overtime remain at extremely high levels. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.9 percent to 129.3 (1982=100) in May, as both employment and the workweek rose. The manufacturing index edged down by 0.4 percent to 105.0. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.5 percent in May to $11.11 and weekly earnings rose by 1.1 percent to $387.74, seasonally adjusted. Over the past year, average hourly earnings increased by 2.8 percent and average weekly earnings by 3.4 percent. (See table B-3.)

Revisions in the Establishment Survey Data

In accordance with annual practice, the establishment survey data have been revised to reflect comprehensive universe counts of payroll jobs (benchmarks). These counts are derived principally from unemployment insurance tax records for March 1993. Based on the new benchmark, the seasonally adjusted March 1993 level for total nonfarm employment was raised by 239,000. Table B presents revised total nonfarm employment data on a seasonally adjusted basis for the period January 1993 through February 1994. These revised data incorporate the effect of applying the rate of change measured by the sample to the new benchmark level, updated bias adjustments, and new seasonal adjustment factors. This process resulted in an average upward adjustment of about 25,000 a month across the period since April 1992. By February 1994, the previously published total nonfarm employment level was revised upward by 562,000.

In addition, further industry employment detail now is being published in table B-1 of this release covering all 2-digit SIC level industries within the private sector and the education and non-education components of state and local governments. All seasonally adjusted major division and higher level series, including total nonfarm employment, have been reaggregated back to 1939, resulting in minor revisions to previously published data.

The June 1994 issue of Employment and Earnings will contain an article that discusses the effects of benchmark and post-benchmark revisions, as well as the reaggregation of seasonally adjusted employment data. This issue will also present revised seasonal adjustment factors to be used during May-October 1994 and revised estimates for all regularly published tables containing national establishment survey data on employment, hours, and earnings. A complete history of all data for detailed industry categories of employment, hours, and earnings from their respective dates of inception will be issued in a forthcoming BLS bulletin. The full history for all establishment data series is available on magnetic tape (call 202-606-5957). These data are now also available from LABSTAT, the Bureau's public database, on the INTERNET. INTERNET users should use Anonymous FTP to access BLS data: stats.bls.gov. The revised payroll employment data are in /pub/special.requests/ee directory. A service with more limited access is available by calling 202-606-7060.

(In thousands)

HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA