Employment slowed down in May, with the economy adding just 75,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported this morning. This was the second time in four months that payrolls increased by less than 100,000, although the headline unemployment figure remained at 3.6 percent.
In addition to the weak total for May, the previous two months’ reports saw substantial downward revisions. March’s count fell from 189,000 to 153,000 and the April total was taken down to 224,000 from 263,000, for a total reduction of 75,000 jobs. Employers have added 164,000 jobs per month on average in 2019, compared with 223,000 jobs per month last year.
Health care and professional and business services were the bright spots in May, and have added nearly 900,000 jobs over the past year. But construction, mining and manufacturing showed little change from April, and retail lost 7,600 jobs.
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