Non-farm employment decreased by 216,000 and the unemployment rate shot up by 0.3% to 9.7% in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Economists had expected a jobless rate of 9.5% for August. But while the unemployment rate was higher than expected, the number of jobs lost in August was less than July’s upwardly revised total of 276,000 – and August posted the lowest number of jobs lost in a year.
Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 7.4 million and the unemployment rate has grown by 4.8 percentage points, bringing the national unemployment rate to its highest level since June 1983.
In recent months, the job losses have moderated in many major industry sectors. In August, construction employment declined by 65,000, in line with the trend since May. Monthly losses had averaged 117,000 over the 6 months ending in April, and employment in the construction industry has contracted by 1.4 million since the onset of the recession. Starting in early 2009, the larger share of monthly job losses shifted from the residential to the nonresidential and heavy construction components.
In August, manufacturing employment continued to trend downward with a decline of 63,000 and has declined by 2 million since the start of the recession, although the pace of job loss in manufacturing has slowed in recent months. Motor vehicles and parts lost 15,000 jobs in August, partly offsetting a 31,000 employment increase in July.
Financial activities shed 28,000 jobs in August, with declines spread throughout the industry. Job loss in financial activities has slowed since the beginning of the year. Employment in the industry has declined by 537,000 since the start of the recession.
Wholesale trade employment fell by 17,000 in August. Employment in information continued to trend down over the month. In mining, employment declined by 9,000 over the month.
Employment in the retail trade industry was little changed in August. Employment also was little changed in professional and business services over the month. From May through August, monthly employment declines in the sector averaged 46,000, compared with 138,000 per month from November through April. Job loss in its temporary help services component has slowed markedly over the last 4 months. Employment was little changed in August both in transportation and warehousing, and in leisure and hospitality.
Employment in health care rose by 28,000 in August, with gains in ambulatory care and in nursing and residential care. Employment in hospitals was little changed in August; job growth in the industry slowed in early 2009 and employment has been flat since May. Health care has been the one bright light through the economic downturn, adding 544,000 jobs since the start of the recession.
The number of long-term unemployed remained high. In August, 5 million people had been jobless for more than 6 months, nearly quadruple the number at the start of the recession. Among the employed, there were 9.1 million persons working part time in August who would have preferred full-time work. The number of such workers has nearly doubled since the start of the recession but has been little changed since March.
In August, the average workweek for production and non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls was unchanged at 33.1 hours. The manufacturing workweek average of 39.8 and factory overtime average of 2.9 hours also showed no change over the month.
Average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $18.65 in August. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6%, while average weekly earnings have risen by only 0.8% due to declines in the average workweek.
Source:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
