Jobs Report: 272,000 Added in May

(Image courtesy of BLS)

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced nonfarm payroll increased by 272,000 and the unemployment rate was at 4% in May.

Employment increases were in industries such as health care, government, leisure and hospitality, professional, scientific and technical services.

The change in nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised down by 5,000, to 310,000 in gains, and April revised down by 10,000, to an increase of 165,000.

“Despite these signs of strength from the establishment survey, the household survey indicated a weaker job market. The unemployment rate increased to 4%, and households reported a 408,000 decline in employment,” said MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni.

“Although this report is not uniformly strong, on net, it is showing a job market that is still quite tight, which likely means that the Federal Reserve will continue to hold at its current level of rates, as inflation is unlikely to drop back to target given this pace of wage growth. MBA is forecasting a first rate cut in September of this year,” he continued.

“Construction added 21,000 jobs in May,” noted First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi. “Residential building construction jobs increased 0.4% compared with the previous month and remains nearly 3% higher than one year ago. Non-residential building jobs are up 0.3% month over month and 5.2% year over year.”

“Builders continue to grapple with challenges stemming from the ‘five Ls’: labor, lots, legal issues, lumber, and lending,” Kushi said. “It’s good to see continued progress on the skilled labor shortage. You need more hammers at work to build more homes, and there are a lot of homes under construction right now.”