Unemployment rates dropped in May

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 10 Jun 2002 8:45

According to a Labor Department report on Friday, the US unemployment rate has dropped to 5.8 per cent from 6.0 per cent in April.

Hourly and weekly averages have continued to rise, leading analysts to believe that a gradual recovery will continue in the second quarter.

“Today’s news is the first significant piece of information that the recovery expanded into May,” said David Heuther, chief economist of the National Association of Manufacturers. “It is not as strong as we would like, but even so, these data lessen the threat that some have raised of a double-dip recession later in 2002.

“Manufacturing continues to lose jobs, but the 19,000 drop in May was a sharp deceleration from the average 115,000 monthly loss that occurred between March 2001 and January 2002,” Heuther said. “This most likely means that the long-awaited recovery in manufacturing employment will not likely begin until the third quarter.”

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