Unemployment galore!

Jobless rate leaps to 3-1/2 year high in May

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May, its highest in more than 3-1/2 years, as the barely growing economy lost jobs for the fifth straight month.

It was the biggest jump in the monthly jobless rate in 22 years and raised concerns the economy was at increased risk of stalling into recession.
"The unemployment rate is the shocker," said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Management in Boston. "The actual payrolls number itself was consistent with what we have been seeing in terms of a slowdown but not quite a recession. But the employment rate gives you a much weaker economic outlook than the payrolls number," said MacIntosh.
The Labor Department on Friday said 49,000 jobs were shed by employers last month on top of 28,000 in April -- for a total of 324,000 lost since the beginning of the year. May's unemployment rate was up from 5 percent in April and was the highest since October 2004.
The soft jobs data helped drive stock prices steeply lower, but it sent U.S. Treasury debt prices soaring as investors bet it pushed back any chance that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates before November's presidential election.

WHITE HOUSE UNEASE
It added to discomfort at the White House, where spokesman Scott Stanzel said the unemployment rate was "too high for our liking," though he noted it stemmed partly from more job-seekers and "not from a broad increase in layoffs"

The number of people in the work force climbed by 577,000 in May, up sharply from an increase of 173,000 in April. There typically is a rise in the number of young people seeking temporary work when school is out, the department said.

More info at: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/06/jobs_cut_for_5th_straight_month_unemployment_rate_jumps_1212759939/