Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 217,000 jobs in May. Unemployment remained unchanged from April at 6.3 percent.

On Monday, Business Forward will host a free interactive webinar on the implications of this jobs report with Dr. Jennifer Hunt, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Microeconomic Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Sign up for our free webinar on the jobs report >

 

Here are some highlights from the employment report:

  • This is the fourth straight month of payroll employment above 200,000 and the 51st straight month of private-sector job growth
  • April job gains were revised down from 288,000 to 282,000
  • The professional and business services saw the largest growth in May, adding 55,000 jobs.
  • The health care and social assistance sector added nearly 55,000 jobs, up from 29,000 in April and about double its monthly average for the past year.

Job gains in May put total employment above its pre-recession level. Private sector employment reached its previous peak in the March jobs report, but a smaller government workforce meant that it took two more months for total employment to recover. The U.S. has finally recovered the 8.7 million jobs lost during the recession, but employment gains have not kept up with population growth. Unemployment remains a concern.

Another solid jobs report is a sign that the weaker employment gains in December and January may have been related to the extreme weather this winter. Economic output actually fell by 1 percent in the first quarter of 2014, according to revised estimates last month by the Department of Commerce. This is the first time the U.S. economy contracted since early 2011.

Manufacturers’ supply chains are vulnerable to the weather. A Business Forward Foundation report published this week showed that just an hour of downtime at an auto plant costs $1.25 million. One plant in Indiana, which had previously experienced very little snow-related downtime, lost five days of production to heavy precipitation this winter. While these weather losses are significant, many businesses have resumed hiring and many economists believe output should be stronger in the second quarter.