The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released today the May 2010 Employment Situation Report and it showed (even sans census) a horrible report for the month. The headline Establishment Survey jobs number was 431,000 (20,000 ex-census) and the Household Survey showed a LOSS of 35,000. The unemployment rate came in at 9.7% and the labor force SHRUNK by 322,000 (which is why the rate went down).
UPDATE: This is a very interesting jobs report, as U-6 fell by .5% and those not in the labor force, but want a job also fell. The unadjusted numbers are also worth noting, as the Establishment Srvey showed a gain of 1,090,000, while the Household Survey showed a gain of only 195,000 (obviously May has a fairly large negative adjustment, which was completely normal).
It does appear that the jobs gains have taken a step back, at least for a month.
Update 2: The much maligned birth/death adjustment for May was 215,000 jobs. Do with this as you choose.
The overall economic picture is looking better, but there is still much room for improvement. Real retail sales (on a per capita basis have improved dramatically from the lows, but are still well off all time highs.
Auto sales per capita show that while we have bounced off a bottom, they are still at historically low levels:
Households are beginning to reduce their overall debt and obligation loads:
But, commercial loans are still lagging a lot (mind you this data is a bit out of date here, as it is quarterly):
But on the real positive side, the Household Survey has shown a huge increase in job creation since the bottom (updated with this month's as soon as it is available):
But again, the unemployment rate is going to remain high so long as the labor force gains continue as they have:
So, what does all this mean? It means that some of the recovery may be beginning to stall and that without continued job growth, we will be staring at economic stagnation (and a potential double-dip) later this year.