WORLD
Few jobs added in May; unemployment rises to 9.1 percent
Baku, June 4 (AZERTAC). U.S. employers in May added the fewest jobs in eight months, and the unemployment rate inched up to 9.1 percent. The weakening job market raised concerns about an economy hampered by high gas prices and the effects of natural disasters here and abroad.
The key question is whether the meager 54,000 jobs added last month mark a temporary setback or are evidence of a more chronic problem. That total is far lower than the previous three months` average of 220,000 new jobs per month.
Private companies hired only 83,000 new workers in May — the fewest in nearly a year.
Stocks on Wall Street fell for the third straight day. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 76 points in late-morning trading. Broader indexes also dropped.
Many analysts suggest the economy will improve later this year, particularly if gas prices continue to decline.
But Friday`s report underscores that the recovery will likely remain weak and unemployment high for many months.
"The recovery has not been derailed, but it`s slow," said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "We`re still in a muddle-through period."
Among the deepest job cuts were in local governments, which cut 28,000 jobs last month, the most since November. Nearly 18,000 of those jobs were in education. Cities and counties have cut jobs for 22 straight months and have shed 446,000 positions since September 2008.
The anemic pace of job creation poses a challenge to President Barack Obama`s re-election prospects next year. The Conference Board, a business research group, predicts that the unemployment rate will be 8.5 percent by the end of next year. That would mean Obama would face re-election with a higher unemployment rate than any other post-war president has.
Yet there`s little appetite on Capitol Hill for additional stimulus spending. And the Federal Reserve plans to wrap up its most recent effort to pump money into the economy at the end of this month.
White House economist Austan Goolsbee said the burden is now on the private sector to create jobs, as the days of a government-led recovery are nearing an end.