Statement by the President on the Decline in Unemployment.

I AM greatly encouraged by the announcement today that the unemployment rate for May dropped to 5.1 percent, its lowest level since February of 1960. It is down sharply from 5.4 percent in April and 5.9 percent in May a year ago.

Employment in May reached an all time high of 71 million.

This is further heartening evidence that the tax cut is working as expected--and that its economic stimulus is being translated into new jobs.

More than 1 million new jobs have been created since the first of the year--and more than 2 million since a year ago. So in spite of a big increase in job-seekers in response to better job opportunities, the number without jobs is shrinking.

Unemployment in May was 400,000 less than a year ago. The number of workers without jobs 15 weeks or longer is 200,000 less •

The unemployment rate for married men is now down to 2.6 percent, and for male adults to 3.6 percent. These are the lowest figures for these categories since August 1957.

But the unemployment rate among teenagers--while down slightly from a year ago--is still at an extremely serious 16 percent. And it could go up in summer, as millions of young people seek temporary jobs. We must and will make further progress in this area.

To help solve this problem and to give full shares in this Nation's growing prosperity to millions of underprivileged Americans, we must enact the economic opportunity bill. It will provide both training and job opportunities for our young people and thereby strike at one of the basic roots of poverty.

The fine advances already made in creating new jobs gives us courage and confidence that we can move steadily ahead toward our goal of full employment.