(AP) - The nation's unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.4% in May, the first improvement in eight months, even as manufacturing industries suffered their biggest job losses so far in the yearlong
economic slowdown.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the overall jobless rate last month fell by 0.1 percentage point from the 4.5% it had reached in April. The April level was the highest
in 2 1/2 years.
The Bush administration and many private economists cautioned that the May improvement was likely to be only temporary given the continued sluggishness of the economy. They noted
that manufacturing companies shed 124,000 jobs last month, the 10th consecutive monthly decline for this sector and the largest drop so far.