Jun 4, 2010

Big jobs increase but 95% were government jobs

Jobs growth is disappointing because of weak private sector hiring.

Non-farm payrolls rose by 431,000 jobs on the surge in government hiring but private employment, a barometer of underlying labor market strength, climbed just 41,000, the Labor Department said on Friday.

The increase of 431,000 jobs is made up of 411,000 temporary census workers.

When the administration touts the May jobs gain as the biggest increase in payrolls since March 2000, just remember that only 5% of the increase was in the private sector.

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