Well, the good news is that the U.S. economy gained a net 431,000 jobs in May—albeit largely due to the hiring of 411,000 temporary Census workers. The bad news is that private employment increased by only 41,000, and that’s much less than the 180,000 forecasted, according to the National Urban League, an OtherWords partner. In May, the unemployment rate returned to 9.7 percent–the same as the first three months in 2010. The black unemployment rate declined to 15.5 percent, from 16.5 percent. White unemployment returned to 8.8 percent (the same level as in February and March). Latino unemployment was little changed at 12.4 percent.
“The ranks of long-term unemployed was little changed at 46 percent of all unemployed, representing 6.8 million people jobless for 27 weeks or more,” the League said. That’s “a clear sign that labor market is far from being in recovery” and “reinforces the need for legislation that funds direct job creation and training for the chronically unemployed.” Check out Untangling the Budget Deficit: Jobs Surge Can Reduce the Deficit by $310 billion, the National Urban League’s new report or visit their State of Urban Jobs website for more details.
