[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The number of monthly unemployed in the United States, which had reached a record high since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), showed a decrease of 2.76 million, significantly below expectations. The decrease shrank to about one-tenth of the figure announced last month, raising optimistic forecasts that the job market improvement has begun.
According to CNBC, on the 3rd (local time), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), a U.S. private employment information company, announced that private sector employment in May decreased by 2.76 million. This figure is much lower than the Dow Jones estimate of 8.75 million and is about one-tenth of the 20.24 million decrease announced last month. The ADP employment report is an indicator showing the private sector job situation excluding the government sector and is known as a gauge for the U.S. Department of Labor's official employment statistics.
By industry, 826,000 jobs were lost in trade, transportation, and utilities sectors, and 250,000 jobs decreased in professional and business services. The education and health services sector saw a reduction of 168,000 jobs, and the leisure sector, which was hit hardest by COVID-19, lost 105,000 jobs.
Ahmet Yildirimaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute, stated, "Although the labor market is still staggering due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, many states have started phased business reopenings, so the job losses in April peaked, and it appears that the decline has turned around starting in May." CNBC added that economic experts expect the U.S. Department of Labor's employment statistics to be released on the 5th (local time) to show a job loss of 8.33 million, with the unemployment rate rising to 19.5%.
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