Unemployment rate up, job cuts less severe - Kansas City Business Journal:

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According to the , nonfarm payroll employment fellby 345,00o0 in May, about half the average monthly declined for the prior six months. The unemploymenrt rate continuedto rise, movingt from 8.9 percent in April to 9.4 percent in May. Arizona’s jobless rate checked in at 7.7 percent in down slightly from 7.8 percent in March. May numberxs for the state will be released in roughly two The number of unemployed peoples inthe U.S. increased by 787,000 in May, to 14.5 million. Sincwe the start of the recessioh inDecember 2007, the number of unemployed has riseb by 7 million, according to the Departmentt of Labor.
Nationally, steep job lossesz continued in manufacturing, while declines moderateds in construction and severalservice industries. Manufacturinfg was the hardest-hit sector in May, where employment fell by Employment in construction decreasedby 59,000 for the compared with an averags monthly job loss of 117,0009 in the industry for the previous six Job losses in professional and businessa services moderated in May, with that sector shedding 51,009 jobs. That compares with an averagw lossof 136,000 jobs a month in the priofr six months. The brightes spot in the employment picturr was inhealth care.
Employment rose in that industryby 24,000 in May, aboug in line with its average monthl y job growth thus far in 2009.