Employers Probably Hired Fewer Workers in Latest Sign U.S. Economy Slowing

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-29/employers-probably-hired-fewer-workers-in-latest-sign-u-s-economy-slowing.html

Employers probably hired fewer workers in May and manufacturing cooled as the jump in fuel costs and the effects of Japan’s earthquake rippled through the U.S., economists said before reports this week.

The projected 185,000 gain in payrolls would follow a 244,000 April increase, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey before Labor Department figures June 3. Another report may show factories grew at the slowest pace in seven months.

Faster progress in the job market is needed to help consumers weather the increase in energy prices and lift spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy. At the same time, supply disruptions from Japan are restraining manufacturing, which led the U.S. out of the recession.

“High gasoline prices are damping the pace of hiring a bit,” Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “Manufacturing will expand at a more moderate pace. We’re talking about a slow patch in the economy.

no benefits. And "they" want us to 'consume"!!