The Labor Department’s release of the US job report this morning shocked many with its final numbers for May’s unemployment rate. Over the past month employers were hiring but at a slow rate. There were only 54,000 jobs this May in comparison to the 232,000 in April. Economists had predicted much higher numbers in jobs and were disappointed to see the unemployment rate rise from last month’s 9.0 percent to May’s 9.1 percent.

There has been much discussion as to why the report shows such low numbers. It’s believed that recent natural disasters have played a role, referencing the Japanese earthquake which effected jobs in the manufacturing industry as well as other major disasters here in the US. The numbers are also said to reflect a slowing economy and that budget cut backs as well as May’s high gas prices were a major cause of the decrease in jobs.

May’s report comes after three strong months of increasing employment and may possibly be something not to worry about. The economy and labor markets are still continuing to grow; they are just doing so at a much slower rate than had been predicted. Numbers in the report are also showing some positive signs as the numbers continue to show growth in payroll.

Isidore, C. (2011). May jobs report: hiring slows, unemployment rises. cnn money, Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/03/news/economy/may_jobs_report_unemployment/index.htm?hpt=hp_c1