Overall employment in the U.S. chemical industry fell by 800 jobs in May, after posting gains in April and March, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com).
Citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the ACC report says the number of chemical sector jobs fell to 776,500 in May, after gaining 1,200 jobs in both April and March. The number of production workers, however, was unchanged, suggesting that the decline came in non-production jobs.
Beyond the chemical industry, the BLS data suggest that non-farm payrolls rose by 54,000 in May, a “disappointing” total, said the ACC, that followed gains that averaged 220,000 per month for the prior three months.
In other data, the Standard & Poor’s chemical index declined by 1.4% in May, but is up 7.1% since the beginning of the year. The broader S&P 500 Index fell 2.6% in May.
Looking to the wider economy, the ACC said the week’s economic reports were generally negative, with construction “mired in a slow recovery” and consumer confidence lower due to slipping housing prices and rising gasoline prices.
Regarding the employment news, the ACC commented that “We knew this was going to be a jobless recovery, but today’s employment news hurt nonetheless.” The growth in nonfarm payrolls was much smaller than hoped for, ACC added, and the unemployment rate rose as “more people entered the labor force and not enough jobs were added to employ them.”