Hope and change, baby! 
From USA Today: The labor market slowed dramatically in May as employers added 38,000 jobs, raising concerns that a sluggish economy is taking a bigger toll on employment and lowering the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike this month.
The unemployment rate fell from 5% to 4.7%, the lowest since November 2007, the Labor Department said Friday, but that was because nearly 500,000 Americans stopped working or looking for jobs. The paltry employment gains were the smallest in 5 1/2 years.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected 160,000 new jobs, with net gains reduced by 35,000 because of the now-settled Verizon strike. That total would have been roughly equivalent to the 200,000-plus additions that have been a staple of the payroll recovery in recent years. But forces more significant than the strike dragged down payroll gains last month.
Also discouraging: Job growth for March and April was revised down by a total 59,000. March’s tally was revised to 186,000 from 208,000, and April’s, to 123,000 from 160,000.
Businesses added just 25,000 jobs, led by health care. Federal, state and local governments added 13,000. A mild plus: Average hourly wages rose 5 cents to $25.59 and are up 2.5% the past year, unchanged from April and faster than the just over 2% pace in the recovery.
The Fed is seeking more rapid wage growth before raising interest rates again. Economic growth was feeble in the fourth quarter of 2015 and early this year, raising speculation that a resilient job market eventually might feel the effects.
Some economists also believe employment growth is likely to slow in coming months amid a near-normal unemployment rate that has winnowed the pool of available workers.
May’s disheartening retreat, however, was jaw-dropping in view of the labor market’s remarkably steady performance in recent years. The information sector lost 34,000 workers, in line with the drop economists expected because of the Verizon strike.
But the near-paralysis in hiring was widespread. Manufacturers cut 10,000 jobs and mining and logging, which includes oil producers, chopped 11,000. Those sectors have been grappling with a weak global economy and low oil prices for nearly two years. But even construction, which generally has been benefiting from a recovering housing market, slashed 15,000 jobs.
And the number of temporary employees placed by staffing agencies declined by 21,000.
That could be a troubling sign because employers often lay off contingent workers before cutting permanent ones. Professional and business services added just 10,000 jobs; and leisure and hospitality and retail each added 11,000. Only health care defied the slump, adding 55,000 jobs.
Read the whole story here.
DCG
