The trucking industry added 7,300 for-hire trucking jobs in May, an increase from 1.3 million jobs in April and a 3.4% increase from a year ago.

However, the nation as a whole did not fare as well this month, with nonfarm payroll employment changing little in May, adding only 69,000 jobs and bringing the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.2%,, reports the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Analysts say this represents slowing job growth and a weakness in economic recovery. Last month's forecasted 115,000 added jobs was later revised to just 77,000. The number of long-term unemployed rose to 5.4 million from 5.1 million this month, another worrying sign of weakness in recovery, say analysts.

Until this month's increase from 8.1%, the jobless rate had been steadily declining since last August, when the unemployment figure was 9.1%. The average hourly earnings in May rose by just 2 cents, to $23.41. That's an increase of 1.7% from a year ago, less than the annual inflation rate.