US workers hired at slowest pace in nearly 9 years

WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Hiring in the United States remains stubbornly weak as employers added workers in May at the slowest pace in nearly nine years, government data showed on Tuesday.

Job openings in the hard-hit manufacturing fell for a third straight month, the Labor Department said its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The rate of hires, measured as a percentage of the total number of people employed, slowed to 3.0 percent in May, down from 3.1 percent in April and the lowest rate since the series began in December 2000, the Labor Department said.

While fewer people are losing their jobs as the U.S. economy struggles to emerge from its deepest recession since at least World War Two, businesses are reluctant to start hiring. The Labor Department last week reported that the jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent, a nearly 26-year high.

The rate of job openings at the end of May stood at 1.9 percent, down from 2.8 percent for the same period a year earlier, further evidence the labor market was still struggling midway through the second quarter of 2009.

Since May 2008, the number of job openings declined by 1.5 million, or 36 percent, the survey showed.

Openings for jobs in the manufacturing sector dropped to 91,000 in May, down from 95,000 in April and the lowest level since the series began in 2000, when openings totaled 435,000.

Total separations, a measure covering all terminations of employment, fell to 3.3 percent from 3.6 percent a year ago.

The rate of Americans who quit their jobs, a subset of total separations and a barometer of how easy it is for workers to change jobs, was unchanged at 1.3 percent in May from April.

The government survey lags many job market gauges but it can provide additional insight into labor market dynamics.

Consulting firm Planned Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc. reported last week that planned job cuts at U.S. firms fell 33 percent in June to the lowest level since March 2008.

The Labor Department said last Friday that U.S. June nonfarm payrolls plunged 467,000 after job losses had moderated the previous four months. (Reporting by Nancy Waitz; Editing by Leslie Adler)