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May Job Numbers Fall Short of Expectations
June 7, 2019
Job growth slowed way down in May, with the economy adding just 75,000 jobs for the month. This is far short of the 180,000 that had been predicted. This is the second time in four months that the economy has added fewer than 100,000 jobs, leading many to predict that the job market may be slowing. The reports for the previous two months were also revised down, resulting in a combined reduction of 75,000 jobs.
Despite the slow growth, unemployment held steady at its 50-year low of 3.6 percent. The “real” unemployment rate, which includes discouraged workers who have given up looking for work or have taken part-time jobs, fell from 7.3 percent to 7.1 percent.
