U.S. unemployment jumps to 5.5%
The U.S. jobless rate jumped to 5.5 per cent in May, up from five per cent a month earlier, the U.S. Department of Labour said Friday.
The 0.5 per cent jump was far above the 5.1 per cent that analysts had been expecting, and was the biggest month-over-month increase since 1986.
A year earlier, the rate was 4.5 per cent. The number of people out of work in May was 8.5 million, up by 861,000 from April, and 1.6 million from May 2007.
Payrolls shrank by 49,000 jobs in May, with losses in construction, manufacturing, retail and temporary help services.
It was the fifth month in a row that employers have cut jobs.
More workers were hired in health care, the department said.
The Canadian unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1 per cent in May, Statistics Canada said Friday.
With files from the Associated Press
0 comments:
Post a Comment