Recovery Still Sluggish with More Bad News on Jobs

Mike Brownfield / June 01, 2011

Though the official report on May’s job performance doesn’t come in until Friday, early signs aren’t looking good for the U.S. economy.

The LA Times reports that “U.S. private-sector payroll growth slowed sharply in May, falling to the lowest level in eight months,” according to an ADP Employment Services report. Meanwhile, growth in the manufacturing sector slowed more than expected to its lowest level in over 1-1/2 years.

The LA Times reports on the preliminary numbers:

The ADP report showed private employers added a scant 38,000 jobs last month, falling from a downwardly revised 177,000 in April and well short of expectations for 175,000. It was the lowest level since September 2010.

The report boded poorly for the key U.S. non-farm payrolls report at the end of the week. Credit Suisse lowered its estimate for Friday’s employment number to 120,000 from its previous forecast of 185,000 and its private payroll estimate to 135,000 from 200,000. (more…)