Despite continued growth especially in professional and business services and in health care, the job market added only 75,000 new positions in May. This compares to an average of 164,000 new jobs per month in 2019 and 223,000 new jobs in may of 2018.

The top-performing industries were professional and business services with 33,000 new jobs as well as healthcare with 16,000 new jobs. The two sectors accounted for almost 7 of 10 new jobs created in May. Explore Raising Career’s healthcare career section to explore career opportunities in healthcare.  

Construction jobs inched up by about 4,000, while all other major industries including mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government showed little change.

On the positive side, average hourly wages climbed slightly by 6 cents to $27.83 per hour. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 7 cents to $23.38 in May.

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There are currently 5.8 million unemployed individuals in the U.S., a drop of 387,000. This number does not include underemployed people such as involuntary part-time workers. There are about 4.7 million people who currently fill part-time jobs, but indicated to actually prefer a full-time position. The number of long-term unemployed individuals remained at 1.2 million in April and accounted for about 21% of the unemployed.

The biggest chunk of new jobs in April was created in the professional and business services workforce. Of the 76,000 new jobs, 53,000 were created in administrative and support services and 14,000 in computer systems design and related services. Professional and business services have added 535,000 new jobs over the past 12 months.

Construction is beginning to see a stronger seasonal uptick with 33,000 new jobs with two thirds of the gains seen in nonresidential specialty trade contractor jobs.

Healthcare also continues its strong pace with 27,000 new jobs in April and 404,000 new jobs over the past year. In April, job growth occurred in ambulatory health care services (17,000 new jobs), hospitals (8,000 new jobs), and community care facilities for the elderly (7,000 new jobs). Check out Raising Career’s healthcare career section to discover professions in the healthcare area.

Other strong employment sectors included social assistance (26,000 new jobs) and finance (12,000 new jobs). Manufacturing is slowing considerably with just 4,000 new jobs in April, down from an average of 22,000 new jobs over the past year. Retail continued its downward trend with job losses of 12,000, which affected general merchandise stores in particular.

Average hourly earnings climbed by 6 cents to $27.77 per hour. Average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory employees increased by 7 cents to $23.31 in April.

Update 6/10/2019: The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its estimate of added jobs to 224,000 new positions for the month of April.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the United States Department of Labor, March growth was above the average of 180,000 new jobs per month for the first quarter of this year, but significantly below the 223,000 new jobs that U.S. employers added in March 2018.

49,000, or about 25% of all new jobs, found a home in the healthcare industry. Healthcare’s total over the past 12 months stands at 398,000 new jobs, outpacing every other industry for job growth. The most active employers within healthcare were ambulatory health care services (27,000 new jobs), hospitals (14,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (9,000.)

To explore healthcare jobs now, browse job descriptions and certifications on Raising Careers.

Following healthcare, professional and technical services added 34,000 new jobs primarily in systems design, architectural and engineering services, as well as management and technical consulting services. Food services added 27,000 new jobs, while construction added 16,000, while manufacturing lost 6,000. Every other industry did not show significant change.

The average hourly compensation is also showing continued growth. Non-farm workers saw an increase of 4 cents per hour to $27.70, on average.

The unemployment rate in the U.S. job market was unchanged at 3.8%, affecting about 6.2 million individuals, according to the BLS.

Update 6/10/2019: The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its estimate of added jobs to 153,000 new positions for the month of March.

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