U.S. leisure and hospitality employment continued to grow in May

U.S. unemployment rate little changed at 4.0% in May

Leisure and Hospitality

Leisure and hospitality employment continued to trend upward in May (+42,000), in line with the average monthly increase over the past 12 months (+35,000). Food and beverage services and restaurants employment continued to trend upward over the month (+25,000).

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate was little changed in May at 4.0%, with 6.6 million unemployed people. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 3.7%, with 6.1 million unemployed people.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.8%), adult women (3.4%), teenagers (12.3%), whites (3.5%), blacks (6.1%), Asians (3.1%) and Hispanics (5.0%) were little changed in May.

The number of long-term unemployed (those who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more) was 1.4 million, little changed in May. The long-term unemployed accounted for 20.7% of the total number of unemployed.
people.

The labor force participation rate was 62.5%, and the employment rate was 60.1%, little changed in May. These indicators have remained little changed throughout the year.

The number of people working part-time for economic reasons remained at 4.4 million, little changed from May – these people wanted full-time employment but were forced to work part-time because their hours were cut or they could not find full-time work.

The number of people not in the labor force who are currently looking for work was little changed in May at 5.7 million. These people were not counted as unemployed because they had not actively looked for work or were unable to get a job in the four weeks preceding the survey.

Among those not in the labor force looking for work, the number of people who are marginally connected to the labor force remained little changed in May at 1.5 million. These people are looking for work, are available for work, and have looked for work in the past 12 months, but had not been looking for work in the four weeks prior to the survey. Among those who are connected to work but do not consider themselves to have a job, the number of people who are not willing to work increased slightly over the past month to 462,000.

Business establishment survey data

Total nonfarm payrolls increased by 272,000 in May, above the average monthly increase of 232,000 over the past 12 months. Multiple industries continued to show positive employment trends in May, led by health care, government, leisure and hospitality, and professional, scientific and technical services.

The health care sector added 68,000 jobs in May, in line with the average monthly increase of 64,000 over the past 12 months. Job gains continued in May in outpatient health care services (+43,000), hospitals (+15,000), and nursing homes and residential care facilities (+11,000).

Government employment continued to trend upward in May (+43,000), matching the average monthly increase over the past 12 months (+52,000).

Leisure and hospitality employment continued to trend upward in May (+42,000), in line with the average monthly increase over the past 12 months (+35,000). Food and beverage services and restaurants employment continued to trend upward over the month (+25,000).

Professional, scientific, and technical services added 32,000 jobs in May, surpassing the average monthly increase of 19,000 over the past 12 months. Employment gains for the month came in management, scientific, and technical consulting services (+14,000) and architectural, engineering, and related services (+10,000). Professional design services lost 3,000 jobs.

Social assistance employment continued its upward trend in May (+15,000), with increases mainly in personal and family services (+11,000). Over the past 12 months, social assistance has added an average of 22,000 jobs per month.

Retail employment continued to grow in May (+13,000), roughly in line with the average monthly gain over the past 12 months (+8,000). Dealers of building materials, garden equipment and supplies added 12,000 jobs in May, while department stores (-5,000) and furniture and home goods retailers (-4,000) lost jobs.

In other major industries, including mining, employment was little changed from month to month.
Quarrying, oil and gas extraction, construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transport and warehousing, information, financial activities and other services.

Average hourly wages for all private nonfarm sector employees increased 14 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $34.91 in May. Over the past 12 months, average hourly wages have increased 4.1 percent. Average hourly wages for private sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased 14 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $29.99 in May.

The average weekly work hours for all private nonfarm sector employees remained steady at 34.3 hours in May. In manufacturing, the average weekly work hours remained steady at 40.1 hours, with overtime hours increasing slightly to 3.0 hours. For private nonfarm manufacturing and nonmanagerial employees, the average weekly work hours increased 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours.

The change in total nonfarm payrolls for March was revised down by 5,000, from +315,000 to +310,000, and the change in April was revised down by 10,000, from +175,000 to +165,000. These revisions result in 15,000 fewer payrolls for March and April combined than previously reported. (The monthly revisions reflect additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last estimate was released, as well as seasonal recalculations.)