ADP said May private sector jobs fell by 532k, about in line with
expectations of a drop of 525k and vs a decline of 545k in April
(revised from -491k). The level of initial jobless claims of about 625k
that we’ve seen does fit with this level of job losses, which has
stabilized, albeit at still very weak levels. The job losses were led by
small and medium sized businesses, as has been the trend with goods
producing and service providing sectors shedding an almost equal amount
of jobs. Construction jobs fell by 108k and now has lost 1.345mm since
the high in Jan ’07. The financial services sector shed 32k jobs, the
18th month in a row of decline. While we’ve no doubt seen stabilization
in the level of firings at still weak levels, hiring still remains
sluggish and until the economy starts generating 125k+ jobs monthly, the
unemployment rate will continue higher.
