Washington (AFP)

Unhappy with all forecasts, unemployment started to fall again in the United States in May, when observers saw it soar, offering a breath of fresh air to Donald Trump, who is facing a historic movement of anti-racist demonstrations, and to many critics of all stripes.

President Donald Trump immediately self-congratulated himself on this surprise drop, hailing on Twitter a "really great job report. Great President Trump (I'm kidding but it's true)!". He announced a press conference devoted to this good news at 2:00 p.m. GMT.

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3% in May, while the most pessimistic analysts saw it approaching 20%, due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.

In just two months, the rate had climbed like never before, dropping from 3.5% in February, its lowest level in 50 years, to 14.7% in April, its highest in 80 years.

In May, 2.5 million jobs were created, when analysts expected 8.5 million jobs destroyed.

The reopening of shops and restaurants that began in some states in May, allowed the world's largest economy to recover.

The employment situation has thus improved in the leisure and hotel sectors, in construction, education and health services, as well as in the retail trade. On the other hand, it deteriorated in the administration.

In the United States, each of the 50 states that make up the country decides what to do to allow businesses, restaurants, schools, businesses to resume their activity.

They are gradually starting their recovery, for several weeks already for some like Texas or Georgia.

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The employment situation is expected to continue to improve, as fewer Americans register for unemployment each week than the previous one.

They were less than two million last week, for the first time since the Covid-19 crisis hit the country's economy hard in mid-March. However, this remains ten times higher than before the pandemic.

"During the same week last year, 220,000 requests had been made," notes independent economist Joel Naroff.

The GDP of the world's largest economy could fall by 20 or 30% year on year in the second quarter, after having fallen by 4.8% in the first three months of the year.

But all eyes are now on the protests that have rocked the country since the death ten days ago of George Floyd, a black man asphyxiated by a white police officer.

Donald Trump faces a sharp challenge for his management of this movement which takes on a historic scale.

Because the demonstrations have highlighted the inequalities that affect African-Americans, and are exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.

Thus, the fall in unemployment in May concerned the white and Hispanic populations (who recorded unemployment rates down 1.8 points respectively to 12.4% and 1.3 points to 17.6%).

Black and Asian workers, on the other hand, continued to see unemployment rise, respectively by 0.1 point to 16.8% and 0.5 point to 15%.

Because of "the long history of racial exclusion, discrimination and inequality, there is in every family (African-American), fewer working people, and lower incomes and available savings than among white workers ", according to a study by Valerie Wilson and Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute, published Monday.

The liquidity available among white families (49,529 dollars) is, on average, more than five times higher than among black families (8,762 dollars), note these economists.

They also indicate that in 2018, "the median income of white households was 70% higher than for black households ($ 70,642 compared to $ 41,692)".

© 2020 AFP