The number of jobs within U.S. chemical businesses fell by 1,200 in May, to 796,100, but the drop was centered entirely on non-production worker employment, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Washington, D.C.; www.bls.gov) that were discussed in the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemisty.com).
Production worker employment in U.S. chemical businesses remained the same, at 500,400 jobs in May. Compared to last year at the same time, overall employment in chemistry is 1.4% higher and the number of production workers is 4.6% higher.
The ACC report also cited information from the Institute for Supply Management (Tempe, Ariz.; www.ism.ws), which suggest that manufacturing activity expanded in the U.S. for the 34th consecutive month, and that the chemical industry was among those manufacturing industries reporting growth. The pace of expansion slowed, however, to “somewhat closer to the stalling speed,” ACC commented.
In its assessment of the week’s economic reports, ACC said the most attention was on the latest employment data, and they were disappointing. “The gain in non-farm payrolls was smaller than hoped for, and is fueling concerns about a slowdown in hiring,” the ACC report said.
The performance of chemical equities was down, albeit not quite as much as those of the S&P 500. The S&P chemicals index fell by 5.8% in May, compared to a drop of 6.3% in the S&P 500 as a whole.
Beyond the U.S., European manufacturing continued to contract, as concerns over Greece and Spain intensify, ACC said. Coupled with a disappointing report from China’s purchasing managers, these numbers led ACC to remark, “The overall weakness overseas is spreading and is showing up in commodity prices.”