President Joe Biden battles high inflation

The employment market slowed in May, with 390,000 new positions generated, the slowest rate of growth in a year but still above expectations and coming as President Joe Biden confronts high inflation and rising interest rates.

The unemployment rate stayed constant at 3.6 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

Economists predicted that the number would be lower than the 428,000 jobs added in March and April, but the expected number for May was 325,000.

The 390,000 jobs created exceeded expectations. While it is a healthy jobs number, it marks the end of a 12-month streak in which job growth exceeded 400,000.

The figure is seen as a reflection of a still-healthy labor market, despite concerns that the economy will deteriorate after the Federal Reserve raised a key interest rate to combat inflation.

President Biden is under intense pressure to act on skyrocketing food, gas, and other commodity prices ahead of the November election.

Economists predict slower job growth now that the United States has recovered 95 percent of the jobs lost during the first two months of the covid pandemic.

The labor market had seen fierce competition for workers due to labor shortages, which resulted in wage increases as workers were slow to return to work following the Great Shutdown.

Forecasters, though, believe the market has reached an equilibrium as the country recovers from the pandemic.

According to the ADP National Employment Report, published on Thursday morning, private payroll job growth slowed last month, as expected for the May jobs report.

According to Refinitiv, companies added 128,000 jobs in May, falling far short of the 300,000 increase predicted by economists.

The slowdown was the worst month since April 2020, when the pandemic took hold and the country went into a massive economic shutdown.

‘The job growth rate of hiring has tempered across all industries, while small businesses remain a source of concern as they struggle to keep up with larger firms that have been booming as of late.’

There was more promising information elsewhere.

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims unexpectedly declined last week as labor demand remained high.

The Labor Department’s weekly unemployment claims report, released on Thursday, also indicated that state jobless benefit rolls fell to their lowest level since 1969 in the second half of May.