Job Gain/Loss by Sector, May 2012

Herewith once more the employment change by sector—the change between April and May 2012. Construction turned in the biggest loss, 28,000 jobs, this despite a very warm May. Information  (which includes the Media and Publishing), had losses last month of 1,000, this month of 2,000. The most dramatic changes have been in Transportation and in Professional and Business Services, one the inverse of the other.  Transportation had shown a loss of 16,500 last month, a gain of 35,600 this month. Professional/Business services had a gain of 37,000 in April, a loss of 1,000 in May. Government, as usually, had a sizeable loss, both in April (10,000) and in May (13,000). When our politicians claim to be job creators, it is well to keep in mind that they are unable even to create jobs in the sectors they clearly control. The chart follows:

Herewith a tabular explosion of the Government sector’s loss:

(in thousands)	April	May	Gain/Loss
Federal
Total	2,824.0	2,819.0	-5.0
Excluding postal	2,206.1	2,204.1	-2.0
Postal	618.2	615.3	-2.9
State
Total	5,078.0	5,073.0	-5.0
Excluding education	2,657.3	2,656.2	-1.1
State education	2,420.5	2,416.8	-3.7
Local
Total	14,080.0	14,077.0	-3.0
Excluding education	6,245.6	6,246.0	0.4
Local education	7,833.9	7,830.6	-3.3

The big losses have come in postal services and in education. As in—wouldn’t you know it. The only sub-sectoral gain was shown in local government, excluding education. Let’s by all means hear more agonizing about the decay of education and the disappearance of the middle class.