6/11: MetroIntelligence Economic Update by P. DUFFY

May jobs grew by just 75,000, unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent

Non-farm job growth edged up in May by 75,000 (just about keeping up with new entrants into the job market and much less than the Dow Jones forecast of 180,000) and the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent. This compares with a revised 224,000 new jobs in April and 153,000 jobs in March. Notably, the revisions for March and April were lowered by a total of 75,000 jobs.

www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

JOLTS: April job openings dipped 0.3 percent as hires rose three times faster than separations

The number of job openings fell 0.3 percent to 7.4 million on the last business day of April. Over the month, hires edged up 4.2 percent to 5.9 million, and separations rose 1.3 percent to 5.6 million. Within separations, the quits rate rose 0.6 percent to 3.5 million.

www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

April consumer credit use rose another 5.25 percent annual rate to $4.07 trillion

Consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.25 percent in April, rising to $4.07 trillion. Of this, revolving credit (such as credit cards) increased at an annual rate of 8.0 percent to $3.00 trillion, while non-revolving credit (such as car loans) increased at an annual rate of 4.25 percent to $1.06 trillion.