Payroll employment little changed in May 2011

Total nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in May (+54,000), following gains that averaged 220,000 per month over the previous 3 months.

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Private-sector employment continued to trend up (+83,000) in May, although by a much smaller amount than the monthly average from February to April (+244,000). Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and mining. Local government employment continued to trend down.

Employment in professional and business services continued to increase in May (+44,000), with notable job gains occurring in accounting and bookkeeping services (+18,000) and in computer systems design and related services (+8,000).

Health care employment continued to expand in May (+17,000). Employment in the industry had risen by an average of 24,000 per month over the prior 12 months. Mining added 7,000 jobs in May. Employment in mining has risen by 115,000 since a recent low point in October 2009.

Employment in manufacturing changed little in May (-5,000). Job gains in fabricated metal products and in machinery were offset by losses in transportation equipment, paper and paper products, and printing and related support activities.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. The data are seasonally adjusted and preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation – May 2011," (HTML) (PDF) news release USDL-11-0809.