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May 5, 2006
April employment
Quick take on the April employment numbers:
While the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.7%, the increase of only 138,000 new jobs was well below the expected 200,000.
Biggest gainers were in financial services (20,600), professional and business services (28,000), health and education services (35,000) and leisure and hospitality (20,000) [with food services and drinking places alone gaining 18,000].
Good news was that manufacturing increased by 19,000: durable goods production was up 24,000 while non-durable goods was down 5,000. Much of the gain was due to an increase in automotive jobs.
The big loser was retail trade - down over 36,000!
A weak report compared to past months - but not all that bad given the increase in manufacturing and what seem to be high-end services jobs.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at May 5, 2006 9:35 AM
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