Mining and logging were by far the weakest sector with 18,000 lost jobs in May, the biggest number of layoffs and closed positions since March 2009.
The industry suffered its fifth straight month of job losses and May 2015 is tied with April 2009 as the second worst month in a decade.
A total 68,000 workers in the sector have lost their jobs this year.
And given estimates that fewer than 845,000 people are employed in the US in this sector the numbers are indeed bad.
Average wages are better than many industries – just over $31 an hour for all employees and $26.40 an hour on average for nonsupervisory employees according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But wage growth was a tepid 0.2% compared to an overall rate of a 2.3% increase in hourly earnings in May across industries.
Weekly hours are also higher than in many other sectors with 43.7 hours per week on average and rising to 45.7 hours per week for non-supervisory workers.
Comments
Restless Boomers
We understand that over the long term, renewables are the future.
It is however, unfortunate that global warming (oops, we mean climate change) fear mongering has unnecessarily destroyed the jobs and livelihoods of many families and local economies, all in hopes that a carbon tax (that no one will be able to effectively monitor) can be implemented as a huge slush fund for New World Order ruling elites.
It’s time to wake up and realize that the NWO, not coal is the problem.