Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.1% in May

The U.S. unemployment rate rose a tenth of a point in May to 9.1%, while the economy added 54,000 jobs to payrolls, the Labor Department said Friday.

Transportation and warehousing added 8,000 workers, while trucking job growth was flat, Labor figures showed.

The unemployment rate rose from 9% in May and was in contrast with economists’ forecasts of an 8.9% rate, Bloomberg reported.

The payrolls gain was the smallest in eight months and followed a revised 221,000 increase in April that was smaller than originally reported.

The payroll and unemployment figures are obtained by separate surveys, with payrolls from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a survey of households.

Economists had forecast 165,000 new jobs for May, Bloomberg said. Private hiring rose by 83,000, below projections of 170,000 new jobs.

Government payrolls fell by 29,000, although federal government payrolls rose by 1,000.

Factory employment jumped by 29,000, more than economists’ median forecast of 20,000, Bloomberg reported. Service employment jumped by 200,000 jobs.