Payroll employment up 175,000 in May 2013

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in May, with gains in professional and business services, food services and drinking places, and retail trade. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth averaged 172,000 per month.

 

Professional and business services added 57,000 jobs in May. Within this industry, employment continued to trend up in temporary help services (+26,000), computer systems design and related services (+6,000), and architectural and engineering services (+5,000). Employment in professional and business services has grown by 589,000 over the past year.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places continued to expand, increasing by 38,000 in May and by 337,000 over the past year.

Retail trade employment increased by 28,000 in May. The industry added an average of 20,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months. In May, general merchandise stores continued to add jobs (+10,000).

From the end of the most recent recession in June 2009 to May 2013, nonfarm employment has increased by 3.9 percent. There is considerable variation across industries in the rate of employment change. Employment in mining and logging increased 26.3 percent from June 2009 to May 2013. At the other end of the spectrum, employment in the information industry declined 3.5 percent over the same period.

 

Employment in professional and business services increased 12.3 percent from June 2009 to May 2013. The employment increase was 7.9 percent in leisure and hospitality and 7.7 percent in education and health services.

Construction employment was 3.4 percent lower in May 2013 than it was at the end of the recession; construction employment had declined 19.8 percent during the recession (December 2007 to June 2009). Employment in government at all levels declined 3.3 percent from June 2009 to May 2013.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — May 2013," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL‑13‑1102. More charts featuring CES employment data can be found in Current Employment Statistics Highlights: May 2013 (PDF).