Unemployment Rate Rate Rises to 9.4 Percent

The Employment Situation Summary for May was released today and reported an increased unemployment rate of 9.4 percent in comparison to last month's rate of 8.9 percent. The report did show some promise however, reporting that job losses have slowed in comparison to previous months since the announcement of the recession in December 2007.

Employers cut a total of 345,000 jobs in May. Some industries that have taken severe losses in previous months started to show some signs of improvement. Construction, for instance, has taken an average hit of 117,000 job losses per month and in May only reported 59,000 losses. Professional and business services also showed fewer losses, reporting a total of 51,000 job cuts in comparison to a monthly average of 136,000.

In a reaction to the new labor report the Associated Press is quoted stating, "The much smaller-than-expected reduction in payroll jobs, reported by the Labor Department, adds to evidence that the recession is loosening its hold on the country. It marked the fourth straight month that the pace of layoffs slowed.”

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