Lawmakers reacted to the better than expected employment numbers Friday, continuing to express concerns about the rising unemployment rate.

Employment fell by much less than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Labor Department, although the unemployment rate rose more than expected to reach a new twenty-five year high.

The report revealed that while the pace of job loss is slowing, employers are not hiring - meaning that while people are slightly less likely to be laid off, if they are laid off they are likely to remain out of work for a longer period of time.

The report showed that non-farm payroll employment fell by 345,000 jobs in May following a revised decrease of 504,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected a decrease of about 520,000 jobs compared to the loss of 539,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

"Job losses continued to be widespread in May, but the rate of decline moderated in construction and several service providing industries," said Kieth Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics while reporting the employment figures to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee Friday.

He added, "Large job losses continued in the manufacturing sector, with employment declines in nearly all component industries. ? Since the start of the recession, manufacturing employment has decreased by 1.8 million."

At the same time, the Labor Department said that the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent in May from 8.9 percent in April. With the increase, the unemployment rate came in above economist estimates of 9.2 percent and rose to its highest level since August of 1983.

"Since the recession began, the jobless rate has increased by 4.5 percentage points and the number of unemployed persons has grown by 7.0 million," Hall said.

Several members of the committee sparred with each other and with Hall, offering conflicting interpretations of the new employment figures, with Republican Reps. Kevin Brady and Michael Burgess, both of Texas, pushing Hall to admit that the figures showed the Democrat-backed $787 billion stimulus and recovery package was failing to boost the economy.

"We get a lot of conflicting information," Burgess said. "Tell us what it is. Are we seeing green shoots or is the landscape still pretty barren."

Hall said that while the job losses were "significant" the figures were "a moderation" over previous months.

"That's the good news, but we still have a deteriorating labor market but it's not falling as quickly as it was before," he said.

But Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who was heading the panel, pushed back against Brady's points, saying that Brady was misinterpreting Hall's testimony.

"I don't want it out there that you're saying you're denying them when you don't have the information," Cummings said to Hall.

Hall, seeking to clarify his comments, said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't analyze the causes of unemployment or whether particular pieces of legislation are creating or costing jobs.

"We are just collecting the data," he said. "We're not trying to focus on whether there are effects from the stimulus," he said.

Senator Bob Casey, D-Penn., noted the jump in the unemployment rate for Hispanics, from 11.3 percent in April to 12.7 percent in May. While Hall noted that this was a significant increase, he said that such fluctuations are not uncommon on a month-by-month basis.

"On the breakouts by demographics some of the numbers move around a bit because its' not a very large sample size," Hall explained.

However, he noted that while men are losing jobs at a higher rate than women, three-to-one, that is "typical during recessions."

Job losses for women are even higher during the current recession than during some others, Hall added.

House minority whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, issued a statement in the wake of the report, blaming the Obama administration for the high unemployment rate.

"This is President Obama's economy now and this is not the oversight and accountability that working families deserve or were promised," Cantor said. "We must refocus on employment, yet Speaker Pelosi and the unchecked Democrat majorities continue to increase Washington's hand in the free market, taking away natural incentives to create jobs."

In a separate statement, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said that getting the economy back on track and the unemployment rate down is the "single-most important focus of this administration."

"We are beginning to see signs of the recovery taking hold as the comprehensive plan of the Obama Administration continues to reach more and more Americans," Solis said.

However, she added that the Obama administration remains concerned about the high level of unemployment and will work to ensure that they receive benefits.

"These efforts underscore our top priority to rebuild the economy to get people back to work," she added.

Lawmakers reacted to the better than expected employment numbers Friday, continuing to express concerns about the rising unemployment rate. Employment fell by much less than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Labor Department, although the unemployment rate rose more than expected to reach a new twenty-five year high.


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