BLS’s May report moved more briskly increasing by 272,000 new positions. (Well above the 130-150,000 range estimated increase needed on a monthly basis to stay-up with growing demographics).  As for construction, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to only 3.9 percent for May, consistent with strong seasonal workloads. [The new unemployment figure is down 1.3 basis points vs. April ‘24; but is worse some 0.4 basis points from last May’s level of 3.5%].  Overall, construction saw little change from the April numbers.
 
The general unemployment level, increased another 0.1 basis points crossing over to 4.0 percent. (“Unemployed persons” was also up to 6.6 million per the government count).  Meanwhile, the “labor force participation rate” fell to 62.5 percent. [NOTE: The “labor force participation” rate “typically” works inversely to the overall unemployment figures. Meaning: as it deteriorates/gets worse or smaller, it actually is counted as improving unemployment (i.e., people leaving the workforce are no longer counted as unemployed by the DOL).  The “employment to population ratio” fell another 0.1 basis points to 60.1 percent. [Both measures haven’t reached their pre-Covid levels yet; if people were actually seeking jobs, the unemployment rate would be approximately 5.0% ].  Average hourly earnings continued to increase to $29.99 for private sector production and non-supervisory employees.     SEE Workforce Statistics Chart