A law firm http://lasuperiornyc.com/?sell-your-research-papers-online.pdf prefix death penalty essays against craftsman poems Private nonfarm employment rose moderately in April and May, while total government employment continued to decline somewhat. The unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in May, little changed from its level in April. The labor force participation rate edged up in May, but was still slightly below its first-quarter average, and the employment-to-population ratio increased a bit in recent months. The rate of long-duration unemployment declined slightly, while the share of workers employed part time for economic reasons was little changed; both of these measures remained well above their pre-recession levels. Forward-looking indicators of near-term labor market activity were mixed but generally pointed to some further improvement in labor market conditions in the coming months: Household expectations of the labor market situation improved; initial claims for unemployment insurance were little changed, on net, over the intermeeting period; and firms' hiring plans edged up. However, measures of job openings and the rate of gross private-sector hiring were about flat, on balance, in recent months and remained near their levels of a year ago.