Unemployment 9.4%

Goods producing industries cut 267,000 jobs while services cut 265,000.

Manufacturing firms cut 149,000 positions, the 39th consecutive decline. Construction firms shed 108,000 jobs, the 28th straight monthly decline. Financial firms cut 32,000 jobs, the 18th straight decline.

More than half a million jobs have been lost in each of the past seven months.

The ADP index does not include government jobs. To get an apples-to-apples comparison with the Labor Department report, you have to add in about 13,000 jobs typically gained in the public sector. That suggests total payrolls fell by about 520,000 in May, compared with the MarketWatch consensus of 500,000 for the Labor Department's estimate.

Economists currently expect the unemployment rate to rise to 9.2% in May from 8.9% in April.

The April ADP index was revised to a decline of 545,000 from a decline of 491,000 previously reported.

Employment in the private sector has fallen by 5.86 million since the recession began in December 2007, ADP said. Through April, private-sector employment as measured by the Labor Department survey had fallen by 6 million.

In May, employment in large companies declined by 100,000, employment in medium-sized companies fell by 223,000 and employment in small firms fell by 209,000.