Healthcare and Government Sector drive job growth in May 2024

Total Non-Farm payroll employment increased by 272,000 in May, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.0 percent. Employment continued to trend up in several industries, led by health care; government; leisure and hospitality; and professional, scientific, and technical services. Both the unemployment rate, at 4.0 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 6.6 million, changed little in May. A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.7 percent, and the number of unemployed people was 6.1 million.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 1.4 million, changed little in May. The long-term unemployed accounted for 20.7 percent of all unemployed people. Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.5 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.1 percent, were little changed in May. These measures showed little change over the year.