Employment Finally Rises

Employment rose by 2.5 million jobs in May, which was much better than expected by economic analysts.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that the unemployment rate was at 13.3 percent, down 1.4 percent from the prior month. The number of unemployed also fell by 2.1 million to 21 million.

Says the Bureau: “The number of unemployed persons who were on temporary layoff decreased by 2.7 million in May to
15.3 million, following a sharp increase of 16.2 million in April. Among those not on temporary layoff, the number of permanent job losers continued to rise, increasing by 295,000 in May to 2.3 million.”

The news follows three unemployment reports this week.

Claims for unemployment were at just under 1.9 million in the United States for the week ending May 30, a drop from the just over 2.1 million reported by the Department of Labor the prior week. Claims in Kansas were at 10,429, down from 11,232 the prior week. In Missouri there were 19,139 claims, down from 27,436. 

Earlier in the week, ADP said that there was a 2.76 million drop in payrolls in May, which is a major improvement from April, when the payroll-assistance firm said that they fell by 19.6 million.

Economists were reportedly looking at a drop of nearly nine million.