The US Department of Labor reported Friday that a total of 178,000 new private sector jobs were added in May. That makes 39 months in a row of growth - in just over three years, the economy has now generated just shy of 7 million jobs. The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percent to 7.6 percent as more people entered the job force.
Construction employment increased by 7,000 in May, helping to push the industry's unemployment rate down to 10.8 percent, the lowest May level in five years, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Construction employment in May totaled 5,804,000, an increase of 189,000 or 3.4 percent over the past year. The unemployment rate for workers who last worked in construction dropped to 10.8 percent from 14.2 percent in May 2012, not seasonally adjusted, and the number of unemployed construction workers shrank over the year by 259,000 to 891,000. The latest numbers were the best May figures for each series since May 2008, Ken Simonson, the AGC's chief economist, noted.
Following little change the previous month, employment in Canada rose by 95,000 in May, according to a report Friday from Statistics Canada, with most of the increase in full-time work. The gain in May was the largest in over a decade. This employment gain pushed the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage points to 7.1 percent. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment grew 1.4 percent or 250,000, all in full-time work.
Following two months of little change, construction rose by 43,000 in May, accounting for nearly half the total job gains in May. With this gain, construction was up 5.8 percent or 74,000 from 12 months earlier.