July jobs data show some improvement in hiring

By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
                               

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The nation’s labor market showed some signs of improvement in July as job growth came in above market expectations, U.S. government data showed on Friday.

Employment outside the farm sector grew by 163,000 workers in the month, the Labor Department said. This is the fastest pace of job growth since February.

Wall Street had expected a fairly moderate 100,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls for the month, according to a MarketWatch survey. See MarketWatch’s comprehensive economic calendar.
Wall Street greeted warmly the size of the monthly increase, with U.S. stock futures /quotes/zigman/8750836DJU2+1.78% rising after the report was released.
The gain in July was concentrated in the service sector. Factory employment also increased. Read full government report.
Government employment slipped. Private-sector payrolls rose by 172,000 in the month.

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February Job Report Shows Positive Trends

The jobs outlook improved once again in February as both new employment and the overall labor force rose for the third straight month. Employers added over a quarter of a million private sector jobs, beating conservative Wall Streetestimates that called for a 210,000 increase.

Private-sector employment grew by 233,000 jobs, 227,000 of which consist of nonfarm payroll employment. Employment rose in professional and businesses services (+82,000) with temp services accounting for just over half that figure at 45,000. Health care and social assistance also posted gains (+61,000), as did leisure and hospitality (+44,000), and manufacturing industries (+31,000).

The unemployment rate is holding steady at 8.3 percent after falling in recent months. The long-term unemployment numbers, tracking those who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, fell slightly from 5.5 million to 5.4 million. The long-term unemployed account for over 42% of the total unemployment figure.

One of the most promising indicators lies within the U-6 rate, which declined to 14.9 percent, the lowest reading in more than three years. Often referred to as the “underemployment rate”, the U-6 rate doesn’t just measure the percentage of people in the U.S. that are unemployed — the figure most often quoted in the media, which is sometimes called the U-3 rate — it also tracks two other very important groups. 

The U-6 rate also accounts for those who are marginally attached to the work force — unemployed people who, for whatever reason, have not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey, whether due to school attendance, family responsibilities, or because they simply gave up looking for work.  It also tracks those who would prefer full-time employment, but due to economic circumstances are working part-time jobs instead.

According to Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “This month's report makes another addition to a solid and improving trend in what has been the most important missing piece in the economic recovery so far: conditions in the job market.”

Another interesting point lies within the December and January job numbers, which were both recently revised. December’s final job tally rose from 203,000 additional jobs to 223,000, a 20,000 job difference. January’s results were even more drastic, going from 243,000 estimated jobs to 284,000. So overall, an additional 60,000 jobs that were not initially counted have now been added to the totals, making February’s increases that much more significant.

U.S. adds 243,000 jobs in January

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job growth was widespread in the private sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government employment changed little over the month.

Private-sector employment grew by 257,000, with the largest employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government employment was little changed over the month.

 Professional and business services continued to add jobs in January (+70,000). About half of the increase occurred in employment services (+33,000). Job gains also occurred in accounting and bookkeeping (+13,000) and in architectural and engineering services (+7,000).

Over the month, employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 44,000, primarily in food services and drinking places (+33,000). Since a recent low in February 2010, food services has added 487,000 jobs.

In January, health care employment continued to grow (+31,000). Within the industry, hospitals and ambulatory care services each added 13,000 jobs.

 Wholesale trade employment increased by 14,000 over the month. Since a recent employment low in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 144,000 jobs.

Employment in retail trade continued to trend up in January. Job gains in department stores (+19,000), health and personal care stores (+7,000), and automobile dealers (+7,000) were partially offset by losses in clothing and clothing accessory stores (-14,000). Since an employment trough in December 2009, retail trade has added 390,000 jobs.

In January, employment in information declined by 13,000, including a loss of 8,000 jobs in the motion picture and sound recording industry.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing added 50,000 jobs. Nearly all of the increase occurred in durable goods manufacturing, with job growth in fabricated metal products (+11,000), machinery (+11,000), and motor vehicles and parts (+8,000). Durable goods manufacturing has added 418,000 jobs over the past 2 years.

Employment in construction increased by 21,000 in January, following a gain of 31,000 in the previous month. Over the past 2 months, nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 30,000 jobs.

Mining added 10,000 jobs in January, with most of the gain in support activities for mining (+8,000). Since a recent low in October 2009, mining employment has expanded by 172,000.

Government employment changed little in January. Over the past 12 months, the sector has lost 276,000 jobs, with declines in local government; state government, excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in January. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.3 hour to 40.9 hours, and factory overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours.

TURNING A CORNER. National Jobs Report Much Better than Expected for November

The November jobs report was released this morning with expectations of another 120,000 to 130,000 jobs lost (the fewest since March 2008). The report is creating a major buzz in the recruitment industry as only 11,000 jobs were lost and the unemployment rate, expected to remain at 10.2% or tick up to 10.3%, actually dropped to 10%.

September and October figures were revised lower by a combined 159,000 jobs. Temporary jobs, considered a leading indicator of future hiring activity, rose by 59,000. Manufacturing shed another 69,000 jobs while service industries expanded by 58,000, seasonally adjusted.

How this affects our local Pittsburgh market has yet to be seen, with Pittsburgh’s October report showing an uptick to 8.3% from 8.1% in September. While certainly not a “mission accomplished” moment, this portends and much faster healing of the worst jobs market in a generation. It will be interesting to see how this affects consumer attitudes in the coming months and if it is sustainable.

More details: http://bit.ly/8K2KmO

EmploymentGuide.com

National Employment Situation Worsens More Than Expected in September

From the U.S Burough of Labor Statistics:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- SEPTEMBER 2009

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in September (-263,000), and the unemployment rate (9.8 percent) continued to trend up, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses were in construction,manufacturing, retail trade, and government.

Household Survey Data

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent.

Unemployment rates for the major worker groups--

• adult men (10.3 percent)


• adult women (7.8 percent)


• teenagers (25.9 percent)


• whites (9.0 percent)


• blacks (15.4 percent)


• Hispanics (12.7 percent)--showed little change in September.


• The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.4 percent, not season-ally adjusted.

The rates for all major worker groups are much higher than at the start of the recession. Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 603,000 to 10.4 million in September. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 450,000 to 5.4 million. In September, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were job-less for 27 weeks or more.

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.3 percentage points in September to 65.2 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 58.8 per-cent, also declined over the month and has decreased by 3.9 percentage points since the recession began in December 2007.

In September, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 9.2 million. The number of such workers rose sharply throughout most of the fall and winter but has been little changed since March.

About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in September, an increase of 615,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched forwork in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 706,000 discouraged workers in September, up by 239,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 263,000 in September. From May through September, job losses averaged 307,000 per month, compared with losses averaging 645,000 per month from November 2008 to April. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 7.2 million.

In September, construction employment declined by 64,000. Monthly job losses averaged 66,000 from May through September, compared with an average of117,000 per month from November to April. September job cuts were concentrated in the industry's nonresidential components (-39,000) and in heavy construction (-12,000). Since December 2007, employment in construction has fallen by 1.5 million.

Employment in manufacturing fell by 51,000 in September. Over the past 3 months, job losses have averaged 53,000 per month, compared with an average monthly loss of 161,000 from October to June. Employment in manufacturing has contracted by 2.1 million since the onset of the recession.

In the service-providing sector, the number of jobs in retail trade fell by 39,000 in September. From April through September, retail employment has fallen by an average of 29,000 per month, compared with an average monthly loss of 68,000 for the prior 6-month period.

Government employment was down by 53,000 in September, with the largest decline occurring in the non-education component of local government (-24,000).

Employment in health care continued to increase in September (19,000), with the largest gain occurring in ambulatory health care services (15,000).Health care has added 559,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession, although the average monthly job gain thus far in 2009 (22,000) is down from the average monthly gain during 2008 (30,000).

Employment in transportation and warehousing continued to trend down in September. The number of jobs in financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and information showed little or no change over the month. In September, the average work week for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 33.0 hours. Both the manufacturing work week and factory overtime decreased by 0.1 hour over the month, to 39.8 and 2.8 hours, respectively.

In September, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 1 cent, or 0.1 percent, to $18.67. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent, while average weekly earnings have risen by only 0.7 percent due to declines in the average workweek.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from-276,000 to -304,000, and the change for August was revised from -216,000to -201,000.

The Employment Situation for October is scheduled to be released on Friday, November 6, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. (EST).