Now, while things may seem promising overall, there are some points of concern. However, some consumers are evidently maintaining their spending via savings accounts or credit cards, a worrisome potential indicator. That was the first positive reading since January and followed March’s 0.7% decline. If you recall from the mid-May advanced sales report, consumer spending rose 0.4% in April. On the latter point, consumer spending has been one of the most encouraging economic metrics, although not without some controversy. Jobs remain strong, the sometimes-terrifying debt ceiling deal is finally heading to President Joe Biden’s desk to be passed into law, inflation has been slowly but surely easing, and consumer spending hasn’t quite taken the dive some have projected. Last week’s jobs report has confirmed that there may be reason to remain optimistic after all. The figure slid to 34.3 from 34.4, the lowest level since early in the pandemic.ĭata Shows Soft-Landing May Be a Possibility, Though Danger Remains The only weakness in the May jobs report was the average weekly hours worked. Government and health care added 56,000 and 52,000 jobs, respectively. Professional and business services contributed the most to the stellar jobs numbers, adding 64,000 net new hires. labor market continues to defy historical definitions.” “With 339,000 job openings, we’re still rewriting the rule book and the U.S. labor market continues to demonstrate grit amid chaos - from inflation to high-profile layoffs and rising gas prices,” Becky Frankiewicz, president of Manpower Group, told CNBC. This is further validated by the labor force participation rate, which has held steady at 62.6% since March, up from January’s 62.4% reading. In fact, given that unemployment increased despite rapidly rising job creation, the unemployment rate may be a symptom of more people looking for jobs. Indeed, self-employment dropped 369,000 in May, contributing to a 310,000 decrease in the number of employed in the household survey, a more volatile metric used to calculate the unemployment rate. The increase in unemployment, despite the jump in jobs, is likely a symptom of a large change in self-employment. While 3.7% unemployment is a notable increase from April’s 3.4% reading and above the 3.5% estimate, it’s still historically low. And it’s way better than the 190,000 Dow Jones projection. May’s job report increase represents the largest gain in the metric since January. May Jobs Report Outperforms Estimates Despite Rising Unemployment
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