WASHINGTON — The loss of 8.4 million jobs in the past two years means the labor market has a long way to go to recover from the Great Recession.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said he does not expect the jobs lost from December 2007 to December 2009 to be recovered until early 2013. Zandi doesn’t think the jobless rate will dip to 5.5 percent, a level many economists believe is full employment, until 2015.
And the recovery may take longer for some. Blacks and Hispanics have an unemployment rate of 15.5 and 12.4 percent, respectively. That compares with whites, who are unemployed at an 8.8 percent rate, and Asians, who have the lowest unemployment among demographic groups at 7.5 percent.
But teenagers have it the worst. Their unemployment rate is 26.4 percent rate.
Here are details from the report:
Overall hiring picks up
431,000: Jobs added in May, fifth consecutive month and largest monthly gain in a decade
290,000: Jobs added in April
208,000: Jobs added in March
Private sector slows
41,000: Private sector jobs added in May
218,000: Private sector jobs added in April
158,000: Private sector jobs added in March
Government jobs surge
390,000: Government jobs added in May, reflecting big jump in temporary census workers.
72,000: Government jobs added in April
50,000: Government jobs added in March
Unemployment rate falls
9.7 percent: Unemployment in May, compared to high of 10.1 percent in October
9.9 percent: Unemployment rate in April
9.7 percent: Unemployment rate in March
Unemployment rate by demographic groups
Blacks: 15.5 percent
Hispanics: 12.4 percent
Whites: 8.8 percent
Asians: 7.5 percent
Adult men: 9.8 percent
Adult women: 8.1 percent
Teenagers: 26.4 percent
Where the jobs are
412,000: Jobs added in federal government
29,000: Jobs added in manufacturing
22,000: Jobs added in professional and business services
17,000: Jobs added in education and health services
Where the jobs are not
35,000: Jobs lost in construction
15,000: Jobs lost in state government
12,000: Jobs lost in financial services
7,000: Jobs lost in local government
6,600: Jobs lost in retail trade
Associated Press
