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US nonfarm payroll employment
changed little (-54,000) in August, and the unemployment rate was about
unchanged at 9.6%, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics reported today. Government
employment fell, as 114,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census
completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up
modestly (+67,000). The
broad measure of unemployment rose to 16.7%.
The number of unemployed persons (14.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.6%)
were little changed in August. From May through August, the jobless rate
remained in the range of 9.5 to 9.7%.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men (9.8%), adult
women (8.0%), teenagers (26.3%), whites (8.7%), blacks (16.3%), and Hispanics
(12.0%) showed little change in August. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.2%,
not seasonally adjusted. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for
27 weeks and over) declined by 323,000 over the month to 6.2m. In August,
42.0% of unemployed persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more.
In August, the civilian labour force
participation rate (64.7%) and the employment-population ratio (58.5%) were
essentially unchanged.
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes
referred to as involuntary part-time workers) increased by 331,000 over the
month to 8.9 million. These individuals were working part time because their
hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.
About 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labour force in
August, little changed from a year earlier. These individuals were not in
the labour force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job
sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because
they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in
August, an increase of 352,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are
persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are
available for them. The remaining 1.3m persons marginally attached to the labour force had not searched for work in the
4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family.
Total nonfarm payroll employment was
little changed (-54,000) in August. Government employment fell by 121,000,
reflecting the departure of 114,000 temporary Census 2010 workers from federal
government payrolls. Total private employment continued to trend up modestly
over the month (+67,000). Since its most recent low in December 2009,
private-sector employment has risen by 763,000.
President Obama shares his
outlook on the employment picture after Friday's latest jobs report:
Employment in health care increased by 28,000 in August, with the largest gains
occurring in ambulatory health care services (+17,000) and hospitals (+9,000).
Thus far in 2010, the health care industry has added an average of 20,000 jobs
per month, about in line with the average monthly job growth in 2009.
Mining employment rose by 8,000 in August. Since a recent low in October 2009,
employment in the industry has increased by 72,000. Support activities for
mining has accounted for about three-fourths of the gain. Manufacturing
employment declined by 27,000 over the month. A decline in motor vehicles and
parts (-22,000) offset a gain of similar magnitude in July as the industry
departed somewhat from its usual layoff and recall pattern for annual retooling.
Within professional and business services, employment in temporary help services
was up by 17,000. This industry has added 392,000 jobs since a recent employment
low in September 2009.
Construction employment was up (+19,000) in August. This change partially
reflected the return to payrolls of 10,000 workers who were on strike in July.
Employment in retail trade was about unchanged over the month. A job gain among
motor vehicle and parts dealers (+8,000) was essentially offset by losses in
building materials and garden supply stores (-6,000).
Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale trade,
transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure
and hospitality, showed little change in August.
Over the month, government employment fell by 121,000, largely reflecting the
loss of 114,000 temporary workers hired for Census 2010. The number of temporary
Census 2010 workers peaked in May at 564,000 but has declined to 82,000 in
August.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged
over the month at 34.2 hours. The manufacturing workweek for all employees
increased by 0.1 hour to 40.2 hours, and factory overtime was up by 0.1 hour.
The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private
nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 33.5 hours.
Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased
by 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $22.66 in August. Over the past 12 months, average
hourly earnings have increased by 1.7%. In August, average hourly earnings of
private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 3 cents, or
0.2%, to $19.08.
The change in total nonfarm payroll
employment for June was revised from -221,000 to -175,000, and the change for
July was revised from -131,000 to -54,000.
Digesting the latest economic
data, with David Kelly, J.P. Morgan Funds, and Drew Matus, UBS Investment
Research:
