Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/unemployment-rate-hits-26-year-high-but-job-cuts-slow Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Although the rate of U.S. job losses slowed in May, unemployment rose to 9.4 percent, the highest rate in 26 years. Economist Lisa Lynch explains the new job numbers. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Unemployment was the lead story today. The rate hit a 26-year high in May, but job cuts slowed for the fourth month in a row. The Labor Department released those numbers today.The jobless rate rose 0.5 points to 9.4 percent, more than expected. But the number of jobs lost, at 345,000, was the fewest since last September.At the White House, Vice President Biden said there are some signs of hope, but not nearly enough, yet.JOSEPH BIDEN, Vice President of the United States: Let me be very clear: Lower job rate loss is not our goal. Less bad, less bad is not how we're going to measure success, we're going to measure success here in the White House.We will not be satisfied until we're adding jobs on a monthly basis, providing working Americans with a stable job, dependable incomes, ensuring that everyone who wants to make their way into the middle class has a shot to get in the middle class. JIM LEHRER: On Wall Street, reaction to the unemployment news was mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12 points to close at 8,763. The Nasdaq was mostly flat and closed at 1,849. For the week, the Dow gained more than 3 percent; the Nasdaq rose more than 4 percent.Jeffrey Brown has more on the unemployment story.