From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta today issued the following statement regarding the May 2019 Employment Situation report:
“May’s job report added 75,000 jobs,” Acosta said. “We seek to continue job growth by opening more opportunities through policies like USMCA moving forward.
“For 15 months in a row, the unemployment rate has been at or below 4.0% as May’s unemployment rate remained at 3.6%, the lowest rate since 1969. Hispanic-Americans and Americans with disabilities maintained their series low unemployment rates at 4.2% and 6.3%, respectively.
“At 3.1%, wage growth continued a 10-month streak of being at or above 3.0%, which remains encouraging.”
The fact that job growth is not seeing a bigger improvement, along with rising pressures on the economy, makes it more likely that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the coming months.
Last month’s modest job growth followed a much healthier gain of 224,000 in April. The unemployment rate remained at a nearly 50-year low of 3.6%.