By Editorial of The New York Sun
The sudden plunge in the unemployment rate just reported
for May is a reminder of — for all setbacks of the past few months — the
extraordinary power of the Trump economy and the American free enterprise
system. The economy added 2.5 million jobs last month, bringing the jobless
rate down to 13.3% from the 14.7% recorded in April. Given that expectations
were running closer to 20%, or more, it’s just a remarkable report.
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RELATED
ARTICLE
US economy adds 2.5 million jobs in May, unemployment
falls to 13.3%
By Noah
Manskar and Thornton
McEnery
The US mounted a surprise recovery from the coronavirus
crisis by adding a record 2.5 million jobs last month, the feds said Friday,
stunning experts who predicted more bloodletting in the labor market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly jobs report showed
the unemployment rate falling to 13.3 percent as states began to lift
virus-related lockdowns. That’s an improvement from April’s
14.7 percent unemployment although it is still higher than any other
point since the Great Depression.
The data suggest the government’s efforts to backstop the
economy during the pandemic have helped kickstart a recovery, blindsiding
economists who predicted millions more lost jobs and unemployment at or near 20
percent.
…
“The difference was that more people got hired back than
expected,” explained George Pearkes, macro strategist at Bespoke Investment
Group. “That’s down to PPP and the natural occurrence of businesses reopening.
The correlation between the two is very key.”
Several industries added jobs last month, but restaurants
and bars devastated by pandemic lockdowns led the way with 1.4 million
positions, accounting for about half of the total gain, the feds said. The
construction and retail sectors also saw sharp increases, adding 464,000 and
368,000 jobs, respectively, the feds said.
“The sectors that got a lot of PPP loans — construction,
retail, restaurants — that’s where we saw a lot of the job gains in May,” Curt
Long, chief economist and vice president of research at the National
Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, told The Post. “With the
prospect of reopening now a reality, or it looks like it could be a reality for
people in the near future, it now makes sense for a lot of those people to
rehire workers back.”
The Trump administration crowed about the report, saying
it showed the economy is making a strong recovery from the coronavirus.
President Trump tweeted that the numbers were “stupendous” and “INCREDIBLE!”
“It appears the worst of the coronavirus’s impact on the
nation’s job markets is behind us,” US Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a
statement.
…
