US President Donald Trump arrives in the White House Rose garden to laud Friday's figures.Credit:Bloomberg
A substantial portion of the growth in May – about two-fifths – was driven by part-time jobs,an indication of how fragile and uneven the recovery could be. Economists agree that getting back to normal will take longer and be more challenging than recessions of the past.
Of particular concern to economists as the country has seen an outburst of protests about racism,black Americans saw their unemployment rate,already higher than white people,increase. Whereas the employment rate for white people went down from 14.2 to 12.4 per cent,the employment rate for blacks ticked up,from 16.7 to 16.8 per cent.
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Asian Americans saw their unemployment rate rise too,from 14.5 to 15 per cent. Hispanic unemployment dropped from 18.9 to 17.6 per cent.
"One thing we've talked about this week with police protests is that we've left African Americans behind in lot of things. The jobs day numbers reflect that,"said Olugbenga Ajilore,a senior economist at the left-leaning Centre for American Progress."Whenever we have a recovery,blacks are always left behind."
The crisis has touched nearly every part of the economy.
Nearly half of commercial rents went unpaid in May. Oil and gas drillers Whiting Petroleum and Diamond Offshore have filed for bankruptcy protection,as have brands like J. Crew and J.C. Penney. American Airlines said travel was down 80 per cent in May. And concerns are bubbling about another wave of layoffs,as state and municipal governments are forced to drastically pare down their budgets.
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The layoffs have led to long lines at food banks,with efforts complicated by lack of manpower and supply shortages. And with expanded unemployment benefits set to expire July 31,unemployed workers could struggle even more to pay bills,triggering a wave of defaults on credit card balances,car payments and mortgages.
The unexpectedly optimistic jobs numbers are likely to slow the push on Capitol Hill for an additional round of stimulus spending. Many economists and congressional Democrats have said additional government funding is urgently needed to avert an economic downturn,with trillions in new spending expected to expire in the coming months.
Complicating the path to economic recovery is the unusual nature of this public health pandemic. Without a cure or vaccine,the virus could deliver more suffering and economic destruction,and public health officials have warned about another wave of infections later this year.
"We're not in a normal recession situation where key priority is getting the unemployment rate down,"said Damon Jones,an economist at the University of Chicago."We're intentionally keeping the economy in a coma to try to treat it."
The unemployment rate doesn't fully capture the profound depth of joblessness right now. It is only a snapshot of those actively looking for work.
It doesn't include people like Jennifer Bui,28,a freelance content creator in Long Beach who has lost most of her income from work online since the crisis began and hasn't paid rent since April. Bui said she didn't think she qualified for unemployment payments and has been making do with a dwindling bank account and occasional grocery drops from her mother.
"The stimulus check was the only reason I could finish paying off April rent,"she said. That money is long gone now.
Washington Post