The May jobs report came in with another show of steady growth this morning. After last month’s astounding show of 177,000 new jobs, which has since been revised down (more on that below), May’s report added an additional 139,000 jobs to the American job market. Economic experts were expecting to see around 130,000 new jobs in May, but the extra 9,000 seems to be met as a pleasant surprise. While the uncertainty in the economy still concerns many experts, the job market itself seems to be staying on a slow, but steady, course. Consumers are still very concerned about the prices of much needed products, but the Trump administration’s back and forth over tariffs with China and Europe still looms large over any economic news. With all of that, however, the report itself had slightly more jobs added than expected, but it is coupled with the economic uncertainties that came with the April report.
As stated above, 139,000 jobs were added in May, but April’s report was reduced down to 147,000 jobs. This morning, the stock market opened with a “steady but cautious” attitude and has made marginal gains with the coming of the new report. Unemployment stayed the same at 4.2%. The number of jobs in the Trucking and Warehouse industries stayed relatively the same in May. As usual, we’ll have more on that sector further down!
April's Job Opening and Turnover Survey
In April, the Job Opening and Turnover Survey showed some slight changes from previous reports over the last few months. With the original report showing a huge number (177,000) new jobs created, it was a small surprise to see it downsized by nearly 30,000 jobs. April’s new job numbers were revised down to 147,000. The number of job openings changed very little, listed at 7.4 million. Quits (listed at 3.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (reported at 1.8 million) have not shown many changes either. While layoffs and discharges did not change in the Transportation and Warehousing sector, they decreased in the federal government, to the surprise of many, by 4,000. As stated above, the quit rate is at 3.2 million for the year so far. From month to month, the quit rate remains little changed at 2.0%.
May's Jobs Report
For the month of May, Non-farm payrolls grew by 139,000. This slow, but steady growth is seen as mildly pleasing by economic experts after months of uncertainty due to the president’s chaotic executive orders and tariffs. The news has given a small boost to the stock market this morning. While job growth was only expected to grow by 130,000 jobs, this new data, with only 9,000 additional jobs added, is the economic calm that many experts have been waiting for patiently. Between mass layoffs and mass deportations and rampant inflation, this has been a welcome bit to June’s economic news. It also comes with the news that unemployment has stayed steady since April for this year at 4.2%. The labor force participation rate for May fell slightly to 62.4%.
Last month, the Healthcare industry, which has been steadily adding small numbers of jobs every month for over a year, added another 62,000 jobs. In Government, due to DOGE’s cuts, the decline of federal jobs continued by an additional 22,000. Social assistance employment also continued to increase by 16,000 jobs in May. Transportation and Warehousing industries showed little change last month, stalling on the year’s gains to date. It seems that the industry is waiting to see how, and if, Trump’s tariffs will affect their loads.
Conclusion
The May Jobs Report came out today with numbers that higher than expected numbers, and the April Survey was revised downward compared to March’s report. With the tariffs, inflation concerns, and rumors of empty shelves making the most headline news, May’s job report was met with limited enthusiasm from the market or economic experts. For another month, job creation continued, but unemployment stayed the same for May. Stay tuned to the LZ Blog and our Lionzone social media to follow the job market!
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
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