54,000 Jobs Lost In August, Unemployment Rate Ticks Up to 9.6%

[tritsofme]

Private sector job creation up 67,000, which is a little better than expected.

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed USDL-10-1212
until 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, September 3, 2010

Technical information:
Household data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/cps
Establishment data: [phone] * [e-mail] * www.bls.gov/ces

Media contact: [phone] * [e-mail]


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- AUGUST 2010


Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (-54,000) in August, and the unem-
ployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
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).

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons (14.9 million) and the unemployment rate
(9.6 percent) were little changed in August. From May through August, the
jobless rate remained in the range of 9.5 to 9.7 percent. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men (9.8 per-
cent), adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (26.3 percent), whites (8.7 per-
cent), blacks (16.3 percent), and Hispanics (12.0 percent) showed little
change in August. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.2 percent, not season-
ally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) de-
clined by 323,000 over the month to 6.2 million. In August, 42.0 percent of
unemployed persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more. (See table A-12.)

In August, the civilian labor force participation rate (64.7 percent) and
the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) were essentially unchanged.
(See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes re-
ferred 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.
(See table A-8.)

About 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in
August, little changed from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally ad-
justed.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were avail-
able 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. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in
August, an increase of 352,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not season-
ally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work
because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.3 million
persons marginally attached to the labor force 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 was little changed (-54,000) in August. Govern-
ment 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. (See
table B-1.)

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 re-
flected 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, trans-
portation 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 tempor-
ary 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 in-
creased 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. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased
by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $22.66 in August. Over the past 12 months, aver-
age hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent. In August, average hourly
earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by
3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $19.08. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

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.

___________
The Employment Situation for September is scheduled to be released on Friday,
October 8, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).



http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

[scheming daemons]

1. -115,000 due to census.... so actually, not a bad report.... private sector gained

rate ticked up because more people looking for jobs (also a good sign).


This report lowers the likelihood of a double-dip recession.

[MadHound]

2. Your ability to spin bad news is amazing, but ultimately counterproductive.

Despite the job gains in the private sector, more people are suffering this month than last month. And let us not forget that it takes 125,000 jobs/month to simply keep up with the growth rate of the labor force. Since only 67,000 private sector jobs were created, this country continues to fall further behind.

[scheming daemons]

4. The reason the Dow jumped from flat to +100 is because this was better than expected news

[MadHound]

9. Oh geez, judging the health of our economy by the Dow numbers is beyond foolish,

And the sad thing, is you know this. This lie was disproven during the Bush administration, and the reasons for not using the Dow as an economic barometer are well known. The fact that you're resorting to this disproven ploy is transparently sad.

Try again.

[scheming daemons]

10. Not judging the "health of the economy"... judging the quality of TODAY's news

...

[MadHound]

12. Well then, if that is the case, you're even more foolish than initially thought.

You do realize that the Dow is made up of only thirty corporations don't you? Certainly not enough to reliably judge any news.

[scheming daemons]

13. Dow futures are a gauge of how the business world viewed today's news...

...they thought the news was better than they expected.


You do know the difference between Dow Futures market and the actual Dow, right?

[MadHound]

14. Yes, I do,

But again, judging the health of our economy by what thirty, THIRTY, corporations do on any given day is simply one of the most inaccurate rubrics to use.

The Dow has actually gone down the same number of points when thousands of people are laid off.

Not to mention that the ones who profit the most from Dow movement are the rich and elite. Big whoop.

Rather than trying to read the tea leaves of the Dow, let us deal with real, hard facts. The real hard fact of the matter is that the number of unemployed in this country went up, again.

[tritsofme]

15. The unemployment rate ticked up because discouraged workers rejoined the labor force.

Giving the appearance of a higher unemployment, but it does not represent a deterioration of the the country's employment situation. Discouraged workers rejoining the labor force and causing the unemployment rate to tick up is actually a positive indicator.

[MadHound]

17. Umm, no

That number, U4, that measures that actually went up .1% to 10.3%

[elocs]

5. Beat me by a minute with the "spin". n/t

[dmallind]

18. Funny that "spin" looked identical to doomers who complained when rate went down

That it was only because people stopped looking, and of course they poo-pooed census jobs as not real gains that should be discounted and only the private sector numbers mattered.

So which way is it?

[elocs]

3. Is that what is known as..."spin"? n/t

[Selatius]

7. I believe the jury is still out on your last statement.

I wanna see the next couple more months' jobs reports before I would be convinced of that.

[Dawgs]

8. You are correct. This news is not as bad as expected.

Still not great though.

[tritsofme]

11. Agreed, definitely not as bad as it could have been, but still not a good report.

The U3 unemployment rate should really be a bit higher, it has been distorted by all of the people continuing to leave the labor force over the few last months, as they reenter it will give the appearance of a higher unemployment rate, while actually being a positive indicator.

Private sector growth is positive, but still anemic. This is not enough jobs to account for population growth.

[FBaggins]

6. And ADP takes it in the teeth again.

Still can't figure out why anyone pays attention to them.

[Lost4words]

16. so many grasshoppers, they will learn soon enough