Private Sector Hiring Slumps

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Employment slowed drastically in May, according to the latest National Employment Report released Wednesday. In total, the private sector added only 38, 000 jobs, down from the 177,000 increase a month earlier.

The lingering effect of the Japanese tsunami, which is impacting the auto industry, is one explanation for the slowdown, said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, a firm that jointly puts out the report with payroll firm Automatic Data Processing Inc. But even accounting for that disaster, he said, it’s “still a very weak report.”

For small and mid-sized firms, the numbers weren’t quite as dismal as compared to their larger counterparts. Firms with less than 500 employees collectively added 57,000 jobs, while firms with 500 or more employees shed 19,000 jobs, pulling the total employment number down. Last month, small and mid-sized firms added 167,000 jobs.