It's my understanding that the rate would have gone even higher without the
hiring of 200,000+ census workers. Since these jobs are temporary, Wall
Street must be quite confident that the trajectory for the unemployment rate
will likely trend upward in the next few months.
Joel Blau
Timework Web wrote:
> NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - Stocks held strong gains in late morning
> trading on Friday after a jobs report suggested that recent interest
> rate increases by the Federal Reserve are succeeding in slowing the
> economy.
>
> The U.S. Labour Department reported that the May unemployment rate
> climbed to 4.1 percent from its 30-year low of 3.9 percent. The
> closely watched hourly earnings figure -- an indicator of wage-level
> inflation -- rose only 0.1 percent to $13.65 while a 0.4-percent boost
> had been expected.
>
> ``The unemployment rate picked up, which in today's perverse world is
> seen as good,'' said Michelle Clayman of New Amsterdam Partners. . .
>
> Tom Walker
