Employment Situation Improves in May

Chart 1 (top) Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, May 2008 to May 2010. Chart 2 (bottom) Nonfarm payroll employment over-the-month change, seasonally adjusted, May 2008 to May 2010. Courtesy Bureau of Labor Statistics

Total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 431,000 in May, reflecting the hiring of 411,000 temporary employees to work on Census 2010.

Private-sector employment changed little (+41,000). Manufacturing, temporary help services and mining added jobs, while construction employment declined. The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent.

The number of unemployed persons was 15 million in May. The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent, the same rate as in the first 3 months of 2010. As the employment rate improves look for more opportunities to hire landscape professionals.

In May, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was about unchanged at 6.8 million. These individuals made up 46 percent of unemployed persons, about the same as in April. The number of unemployed reentrants to the labor force fell by 286,000 in May, offsetting an increase in April.

In May, the civilian labor force participation rate edged down by 0.2 percentage point to 65 percent. The employment-population ratio was about unchanged over the month at 58.7 percent.

- Courtesy Bureau of Labor Statistics