Delaware’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate fell to 4.1 percent in May, from 4.2 percent in April.
In May 2015 the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.5 percent, while Delaware’s rate was 4.9 percent, the state Department of Labor reported
Since May 2015, Delaware’s total nonfarm jobs have increased by 1,500, or 2.5 percent.
Nationally, jobs during that period increased 1.7 percent.
The department noted that during the 40-year history of the modern Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, up until this year, Delaware’s biggest monthly increase in employed residents was 1,859 gained in May 2005.
By contrast, the increase of 1,200 this May is the first month in 2016 that employment rose by fewer than 2,000 people, and in March and April the gains were over 3,000 each month.
For the first five months of this year LAUS estimates show an increase of 12,500 employed residents. If the next seven months continued at this pace, Delaware employment would go up by 30,000 this year. That would be unprecedented.
Chances of such gains have been reduced as signs appear of a slowdown in the economy.
There are also reports of shortages of workers in some skilled categories.
Indeed, a Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey of employers in the state shows uneven job growth, with total jobs decreasing in two months and increasing in three this year.
CES shows a gain of 2,300 jobs during the five months of 2016, an annual pace of 5,500 jobs gained. That pace is slower than in recent years. The figure is below the projected job gains for 2016, but it is closer to long-term trends.
Unemployment and job statistics are subject to revisions. For example, retail employment showed losses in 2015. The losses came despite the expansion around Christiana Mall and other areas.
Adjustments have been made and so far this year, retail employment is up by 400 from a year ago.
Delaware, in the meantime, is posting lower jobless figures than its neighbors. Pennsylvania, suffering from a slump in energy prices and a long-running budget crisis, saw its jobless rate rise to 5.5 percent, from 5.3 percent. New Jersey’s unemployment rate rose to 4.9 percent from 4.7 percent and Maryland saw its unemployment figure fall to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent.
Maryland has benefitted from the stability of employment in the Washington, D.C. area.
