The US economy lost 49,000 jobs in May, almost twice the number the previous month. This pushed the unemployment rate up a half point to 5.5%, the Labor Department said today.
The 5.5% rate was the highest in nearly four years and the economy shed jobs for the fifth consecutive month. The sharp rise in joblessness exceeded market expectations of a 5.1% rate.
Unemployment hit its highest level since October 2004, and the increase was the strongest since February 1986.
Jobs continued to be lost in construction, manufacturing and retail, but the health sector added jobs. The news sent the euro close to $1.57 against the dollar.
The US economy has now lost 324,000 jobs over the last five months. The Labor Department also downwardly revised March and April figures by 15,000, for a cumulative two-month total of 116,000 jobs lost.
Economists have said the US needs to create about 100,000 jobs each month to keep up with new workers, but it has averaged a gain of only 11,000 jobs over the last 12 months. Services jobs have accounted for more than one third of all job creation in the last 12 months, but increased by only 8,000 in May.
Construction jobs fell for the 11th consecutive month, by 34,000, and manufacturing jobs lost 26,000. Retail jobs fell by 27,000, the fifth straight monthly loss in this sector.
