
Beneath the headline
Perhaps the most encouraging development inside the May jobs report was a noticeable slowing in private-sector hiring to a pace of 333,000 from 405,000 previously and 704,000 in February. The unemployment rate held at 3.6% as the labor force participation rate inside the household survey increased to 62.3% from 62.2% in April. The employment-to-population ratio increased to 60.1% and the median duration in unemployment increased to 9.6%, which almost certainly reflects the freezes in hiring that occurred during the May sampling period. Aggregate hours worked increased by 3.3% on a three-month average annualized pace, which is below the 4.2% increase previously and well below the 6% posted in January.