Jobless Rate Rises to 4.1 Percent

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits edged up by 1,000 to 286,000 last week, remaining at a level indicating an extremely tight labor market. While jobless claims have risen for two consecutive weeks, economists view anything below 300,000 as a sign that employers will have trouble filling jobs because of a limited supply of available workers.

The four-week moving average for claims, which smoothes out some of the weekly volatility, edged down to 286,750 from 291,250 the week before. It was the lowest level for the four-week average since the week of May 6.

The BLS employment report showed that overall payrolls rose by 231,000 in May, but all the strength came in government hiring of temporary workers to conduct the census. There was a gain of 357,000 census workers.

However, American businesses cut 116,000 jobs during the month, which was the first time that U.S. companies had suffered a job loss for any month since a severe winter storm disrupted the economy in January 1996. It was the biggest loss since a decline of 129,000 private sector jobs in November 1991 as the country was pulling out of the last recession.

Construction employment declined by 29,000 in May with the loss concentrated in residential and heavy construction.