Economy adds 431,000 jobs in May

WASHINGTON â€”  A burst of hiring of temporary census workers helped push down the unemployment rate in May, but the nation’s private-sector employers added a mere 41,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday.

The jobless rate edged down to 9.7% in May from 9.9% in April, but that was because the federal government added 411,000 jobs for the decade population count. Those jobs were expected and will disappear quickly over the summer.

Business payrolls increased by only 41,000 in May -- a fraction of the 175,000 or so jobs that many analysts had projected. By comparison, the nation added 218,000 new private-sector jobs in April and 158,000 in March.

A month’s data doesn’t spell a trend, but the hiring slowdown in May is certain to raise questions about the strength of the job market and the broader economic recovery. The jobs report comes on the heel of other data that suggest a slowing in consumer spending, a key engine for the economy.

On a positive note, the nation’s manufacturing sector continued to grow in May, adding 29,000 over the month. The temporary-help industry also increased its payrolls last month by 31,000.

But the hard-hit construction sector, which had increased hiring earlier this spring, fell back in May as employers cut 35,000 positions. The health-care sector grew by just 8,000 jobs, and the other major private-sector industries showed little or no change in payrolls last month.

Some analysts were expecting soft hiring by private employers in May, among them William Dunkelberg, chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents small employers. “Weak sales and uncertainty continue to hold back any commitments to growth, hiring or capital spending,� he said in a report released Friday after surveying member companies.