The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6% and approximately 14.8 million people were unemployed in September, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Non-farm employment dropped by 95,000 in September after a loss of 159,000 in government employment and an addition of 64,000 in private-sector positions. The steep decline in government jobs reflected the end of temporary Census 2010 positions as well as job losses in local government.
Among the major worker groups as defined by the Labor Department survey, teenagers had the highest unemployment rate at 26%. These steep numbers likely reflect business’ hesitation to hire inexperienced and unskilled workers when there are more mature workers in line for the same jobs.
The unemployment rate in September was 9.8% among adult men and 8% among adult women. By ethnic group, blacks had the highest unemployment rate at 16.1%, followed by Hispanics at 12.4%. Asians had the lowest unemployment rate of all major worker groups at 6.4% in September.
The 6.1 million people who were long-term unemployed (out of work for 27 weeks or more) changed little from the previous month, but these numbers are down by 640,000 from the series high at 6.8 million May. In September, 41.7% of unemployed people have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer.
The number of people who are considered involuntary part-time workers – because they would rather work full-time but their hours had been cut or they couldn’t find a full-time job – rose by 612,000 to a staggering 9.5 million in September. The Labor Department reports that the number of workers in this group has increased by 943,000 in two month’s time.
Another 2.5 million were marginally attached to the labor force in September. This group wanted to work and had looked for a job sometime in the past year, but are not counted in the unemployment number because they hadn’t looked for work during the four weeks preceding the Labor Department’s survey.
Of the marginally attached group, about half are considered discouraged workers – they stopped looking because they just don’t believe there are jobs available for them. The other half did not look for work due to school or family responsibilities.
The sector that gained the most was leisure and hospitality, with 34,000 new jobs in September, and a total of 104,000 for the year.
Professional and business services gained 28,000 – mostly in temporary help services signaling that businesses are still reluctant to hire permanent employees in these uncertain economic times.
Employment in health care rose by 24,000 in September, mostly in ambulatory health care services. Health care has consistently added an average of 21,000 position per month for the year.
Employment in wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and financial activities showed little change in September. Manufacturing employment was also flat in September but the industry added 134,000 jobs for the first five months of through May 2010.
Employment fell in construction by 21,000 for September after a gain in August. Construction employment has changed little since February.
The average work week stayed the same in September at 34.2 hours and the average hourly earnings of all employees increased by one penny to $22.67. The average hourly earnings for all workers increased by 1.7% in the past twelve months
While millions of American workers are either unemployed or underemployed, it would be a slight exaggeration to say there are no jobs out there. Not enough, that’s for sure – but there are a few.
According to a separate Labor Department report released on Thursday, there were 3.2 million job openings on the last business day of August. Compare this to 2.3 million jobs available in the trough during July 2009, or the 4.4 million jobs available when the recession began in December 2007.
Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said in a statement, “We are on the road to recovery. The president and I have confidence in the American economy, and we have confidence in the American people. We will continue fighting every day to keep this economy moving forward.”
Source:
Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
