May Jobs Report Redux
By Kate Lorenz on Jun 4, 2010 in Employment Trends, Featured, News
For the fifth consecutive month, employment grew by 431,000 in May — the largest single month gain in jobs since March 2000 — while the unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent.
According to the BLS, temporary census hiring accounted for about 411,000 jobs and private-sector employment rose by a modest 41,000. Manufacturing, temporary help services and mining added jobs, while construction employment declined. Employment in health care, wholesale trade, retail, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality showed little or no change in May.
As a job seeker, here are some important things to keep in mind:
- Since December, nonfarm payroll employment has expanded by 982,000.
- On CareerBuilder, we have seen growth in CareerBuilder’s job listings in 2010 and expect those positive trends to continue at a gradual pace throughout the year.
- Jobs are being added at all levels on CareerBuilder.com. Entry-level jobs are up 46% and we’re also seeing an increase in management positions.
- Employers are adding jobs that are those most closely tied to revenue including sales, marketing, customer service and information technology.
So now that you know where the job growth is, we hope you’re more energized about the jobs picture. Here are some tips for a successful job search.
- Consider a different occupation – Highlight skills that are universal across industries like communications, project management and customer service.
- Don’t apologize for gaps – Employers know it’s a tough job market and resume gaps aren’t unusual. What they’ll be looking for is how active you have been, did you volunteer, take a class, do something to grow professionally.
- Consider freelance or temporary work – A temporary position to help you get more experience, learn new skills and it may even turn into full-time work.
- Check out CareerBuilder’s hireINSIDER – This new tool lets you see how your education, experience, skills and more stack up against those of other applicants who are applying to the same jobs you are.
David Stillwagon | Jun 7, 2010
It seems strange that employment in the health care field didn’t grow that much. I’d hate to think about what the numbers will be when the census workers are taken out of the equation.
molly lavallee | Jun 7, 2010
yes im also surprised with the health care field not being mentioned in the MAY 2010 employment reports??
David Couper | Jun 7, 2010
I agree that I would have thought healthcare jobs would have grown more. That is certainly one of the few areas where there is still demand. One of the issues that has affected healthcare is that as companies downsized people lost their coverage and so the organizations (for profit or not for profit) saw reduced income.