The BLS released the employment report this morning indicating that the U.S. added 139,000 jobs in May, down slightly from April’s revised 147,000, but slightly above pre-report forecasts of 126,000. However, payrolls were revised downward an unusually large 95,000 for the prior two months, leaving the net gain of jobs, including revisions, at 44,000. Following payrolls there are three sectors it is useful to exclude: government, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality – all of which are heavily influenced by government spending and regulation. This includes COVID lockdowns and re-openings for leisure and hospitality jobs. This measure of “core payrolls” increased only 5,000 in May and is up only a...

TAGS – North America, Macroeconomics