http://www.latimes.com/business/la-0...home-headlines
U.S. Economy Adds 248,000 Jobs in May
By Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 248,000 jobs in May and previous months' gains were revised upward today, extending a hiring streak that could provide President Bush with a net increase in payroll employment by election day.
Last month's increase was higher than many economists had expected. It followed revised gains of 353,000 in March and 346,000 in April, the Labor Department reported today. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.6%.
"This is confirmation that a solid economic recovery is here to stay," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis. "If the economy continues to hum, we should be able to get 250,000 jobs a month. Hopefully, President Bush will see a breakeven point before the election."
After bottoming out in August, payroll employment has posted nine consecutive monthly gains, restoring 1.4 million of the 2.6 million jobs lost during the first 31 months of Bush's presidency.
If hiring continues at its recent pace, it could erase the remaining deficit by November, denying Democrats the opportunity to portray Bush as the first president since Herbert Hoover to finish his term with fewer jobs than when he began.
Yet even if that occurs, the pace of job creation may not be sufficient to bring about a big reduction in the unemployment rate, economists said, leaving voters with a muddled picture of the nation's economic performance.
Bush administration officials celebrated the job numbers, and said the president's tax cuts were contributing to the hiring surge.
"What a difference a year makes," said Commerce Secretary Don Evans. "A wake-up call has been sent that the United States economy is back."
Administration critics insisted that the hiring spree did not get Bush off the hook.
"Any step forward in the job market is good news for workers, but America is still in the worst job recovery since the Great Depression," said Allison Dobson, a spokeswoman for Democratic challenger John F. Kerry. She noted that Bush still has a 1.9 million private-sector job deficit if government employment is excluded from the calculation.
America Coming Together, a pro-Democrat group, said Bush would need to create 1.6 million jobs a month for the rest of his term to match the record of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, or more than 500,000 a month to catch up with Bush's father.
May's job gains were broad-based, according to the monthly survey of employers.
The nation's hard-hit manufacturers added 32,000 jobs, the fourth consecutive increase following a 42-month losing streak. Payroll employment increased by 37,000 in construction, 18,800 in retail, 64,000 in professional and business services, 44,000 in education and health, and 40,000 in leisure and hospitality.
The only major category to post a decline was government, which trimmed 27,000 positions, a one-month reversal that economists said was unlikely to be repeated. Within the services sector, telecommunications employment was down 5,400, suggesting that the high-tech bust has not yet run its course.
Average hourly earnings in the private sector increased 5 cents in May to $15.64.
A total of 138.8 million Americans had jobs in May, and 8.2 million were unemployed, a separate survey of households showed. About 28.9 million working-age Americans have dropped out of the labor force.
Some discouraged workers were expected to begin seeking jobs again as the recovery picked up speed. Their return to the labor force may prevent the unemployment rate from falling much even if employers keep hiring, analysts said.
For five months in a row, the unemployment rate has remained stuck in a range of 5.6% to 5.7%, down from last year's post-recession peak of 6.3%, but considerably higher than the 3.9% rate recorded just before Bush took office.
The May unemployment rate was for 5% for whites, 7% for Latinos, 9.9% for African Americans and 17.2% for teenagers, the Labor Department said.