The Employment Situation: May 1996 — 1996-06-07

Employment increased in May, and the unemployment rate returned to its March level of 5.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The jobless rate was 5.4 percent in April. Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by the survey of employers, rose by 348,000, with increases spread across a broad range of industries. Total employment, as measured by the household survey, also rose in May. The unemployment rate, at 5.6 percent in May, has remained within a narrow range (5.4 to 5.8 percent) since late 1994. Among the major worker groups, the jobless rate for adult women increased by 0.3 percentage point to 5.0 percent, while the rates for adult men (4.8 percent), teenagers (16.4 percent), whites (4.9 percent), blacks (10.2 percent), and Hispanics (9.2 percent) showed little or no change in May. The number of unemployed persons was 7.4 million. (See table A-1.) Total employment rose by 367,000 to 126.5 million in May.