>> promising job gains of earlier this year tonight are looking a lot like a false start for the economy in the wake of what can only be described as a hugely disappointing jobs report for the month of may. the economy adding only 69,000 jobs last month, sending the unemployment rate back up a tick to 8.2%. the news hit the stock market like a punch to the gut with 2012 's gains essentially erased in one day. the dow shed almost 275 points, the nasdaq and s&p each dropped more than 2% as the pace and trajectory of the american economic recovery suddenly looks a lot more uncertain. we've asked cnbc's tyler mathisen to put it in perspective for us. tyler , good evening.
>> lester, today's numbers plus ones out earlier this week point to an economy that is dramatically losing momentum since the start of the year. hundreds of people lined up at a jobs fair in los angeles this week.
>> i've been actively looking for employment for the last three years.
>> you just have to keep positive and just know there's something out there somewhere.
>> nearly 13 million americans are without jobs and hunting for work, in an economy that clearly from today's report is still struggling. the 69,000 new jobs added are less than half the 150,000 or so most forecasters expected, a dramatic drop from just a few months ago, when in january, february, and march, the economy added an average of more than 225,000 new jobs a month. some economists see may's sluggish performance as a kind of payback for that hiring surge. although there were some new jobs in may, the unemployment rate ticked up for the first time in 11 months.
>> i think all of us expected to see more job creation than to see that only, you know, less than 70,000 jobs actually were created in the u.s. it's certainly signs that employers are still cautious about hiring.
>> reporter: among the few bright spots, employment increased in health care , transportation and manufacturing, including the auto industry . in fact, ford, chrysler and gm all showed double digit sales gains in may. still, government payrolls fell again last month and there were job losses in housing and construction.
>> housing really is one of the biggest concerns. it's not just impacting the builders that are building these houses. it's impacting all the people that work on these homes, electricians to plumbing, painters, concrete, you know, it's the trade positions.
>> reporter: but even those who work in construction and are able to find jobs say the industry isn't what it used to be.
>> we used to do about seven to ten jobs per month. now it's probably half of that or three-quarters of that. obviously if we don't have enough revenue coming in i have to let some of my people go.
>> the bottom line, lester, is that the economy added jobs for the 27th straight month. that's the good news but it was the 40th month in a row of unemployment above 8%, and that hasn't happened since the 1940s .
>> tyler , i got to tell you, watching the dramatic wall street reaction to this, i have to wonder if it's almost a circular effect here that a bad report like this further undermines confidence and potentially further undermines the recovery.
>> well, today was the dipping point for the dow, it went into negative territory for the year today. certainly consumers, investors and policymakers everywhere are concerned most especially perhaps about what's going on in europe, the debt mess there and how that is chilling the global economy .
>> you know, we talk about these in policy terms, this being a political year, certainly that will be the conversation, but is there any talk that maybe we are seeing a new normal, that unemployment rate is going to be in the 7% to 8% range for the long-term?
>> well, you know when you've got 40 straight months of 8% plus unemployment, you've got, if not a new normal, certainly a new different, a new different. policy is certainly a big part of it, but how we have and have not dealt with our own national debt and the pressures of globalization may be a more fundamental lasting part of it indeed.
>> tyler mathisen from cnbc headquarters tonight, tyler , thanks.
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