May 2005 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.

Nonfarm employment edged up by 78,000 in May following a much larger increase in April, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Pay- roll employment continued to grow over the month in health care and construction, but was little changed in the other major industry sectors.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.6 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.1 percent, were essentially unchanged in May. The jobless rate was down from 5.6 percent a year earlier. Over the month, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.4 percent), adult women (4.6 percent), teenagers (17.9 per- cent), whites (4.4 percent), blacks (10.1 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.0 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 3.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed--those unemployed 27 weeks and over--was little changed over the month. This group continued to account for about 1 in 5 unemployed persons. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

In May, total employment, at 141.5 million, and the civilian labor force, at 149.1 million, continued to trend up. The employment-population ratio, at 62.7 percent, has trended up in recent months. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

There were 1.4 million persons who were marginally attached to the labor force in May, down slightly from a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, at 392,000 in May, declined over the year. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.0 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm employment edged up by 78,000 in May after an increase of 274,000 in the prior month. Payroll job growth averaged 176,000 over the 2 months, in line with the monthly average of 184,000 over the 12 months ending in March. In May, health care and construction continued to add jobs, while employment in most other industries was little changed. (See table B-1.)

Health care employment continued to grow in May, rising by 26,000. Offices of physicians and hospitals accounted for most of the job gain. Over the year, the health care industry added 233,000 jobs.

Following a sizable April gain, leisure and hospitality employment was flat in May. Employment also was little changed in financial activities and in pro- fessional and business services. Over the last 3 months, job growth in profes- sional and business services has averaged 18,000 per month, compared with 52,000 per month during the 12 months ending in February. Temporary help services em- ployment was about unchanged in May and has shown little net growth since October.

Employment in the information industry, which increased in April, edged down in May; both the April and May movements in information were driven by the motion picture and sound recording industries.

In the goods-producing sector, construction employment continued to grow in May (20,000). Within this industry, a gain of 26,000 jobs among residential specialty trade contractors more than offset a loss of 16,000 among nonresiden- tial contractors. Job growth in heavy construction continued in May; employment in the industry has increased by 34,000 since its recent low point in February 2004.

After rising by 30,000 between October and April, employment in mining was essentially unchanged in May. Manufacturing employment was little changed over the month. Since August 2004, factory employment has decreased by 67,000. In May, there were job declines in apparel and in plastics and rubber products.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.8 hours in May, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek decreased by 0.1 hour to 40.4 hours, while manufacturing overtime was unchanged at 4.4 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 percent in May to 102.6 (2002=100). The manufacturing index was down by 0.2 percent over the month to 93.6. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents in May to $16.03, seasonally adjusted. Average weekly earnings increased by 0.2 percent over the month to $541.81. Over the year, average hourly and weekly earnings each grew by 2.6 percent. (See table B-3.)