Via the excellent George Tharenou at UBS:
Unemployment rate 7.1% (after 6.4%); & underutilisation a record high 20.2%
The unemployment rate also rose more than (consensus) expected, from 5.2% in March, to an upwardly revised 6.4% in April (was 6.2%), and to 7.1% in May (UBS: 7.0%, mkt: 6.7%), now the highest since 2001. A more internationally comparable measure was 9.5% (from 5.4% in March); albeit still well below 13.7% in the US and 13.3% in Canada. The participation rate surprisingly declined much further to 62.9%, the lowest since 2000 (after 63.6% in April, and a near record high 65.9% in March). Indeed, the broader underutilisation rate – which includes underemployment, and is a more accurate measure of labour market slack, especially in the current environment – has spiked much more significantly, ticking up further to a record high 20.2%, (after 20.1% in April, and 14.0% in March), to well above the 1992 peak of 18.2%.
