The United States economy gained a net 69,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday, a dismal showing that reflected mounting evidence of a global slowdown. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent in April, but largely because more people began looking for work.
The report, which came in at less than half what analysts had expected and was the lowest number of net jobs created in a year, was potentially devastating for President Obama as he faces reelection and creates increased pressure on the Federal Reserve to expand its stimulus campaign.
As the third disappointing performance by the job market in three months, for many it served as confirmation that the economic recovery has once again lost momentum.
The mainstream media are still not reporting that the unemployment rate is far higher than the 8.2% it is quoting. The “official” rate omits those who have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits and have still not been able to find work, nor does it count those who have given up trying to find a full-time job and are settling for part-time work. See
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/capitol/the_real_unemployment_rate_Dz8PweHqsH1MVVwgkK51mI
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/8/the-real-unemployment-rate/
Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics acknowledges this, albeit stealthily:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
People falling off the unemployment figures because they gave up looking for work does not a recovery make.