Steady Job Growth Continues in Latest Employment Report
After reading the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment report for May, you wouldn’t be blamed for asking, “Is this great news or just OK news?” Some of the data signals exciting news for the economy, but then a few sentences down the picture seems less rosy. Like any jobs report in the last several years, the news is a mix of good and not-so-good.
Let’s look at what we do know:
• 217,000 people gained jobs in May
• The unemployment rate remained at 6.3 percent
• 9.8 million people are unemployed
• 3.4 million people are classified as long-term unemployed, meaning they have not been employed for 27 weeks or longer
• April’s jobs numbers were revised down from 282,000 from 288,000.