Statistics: Employment
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports moderately good news in the employment realm.
Non-farm employment grew by 207,000 in July. Unemployment is still at a stubborn but manageable 5.0%.
Average hourly earnings are up slightly, to $16.03 per hour - though I wish they would use median hourly earnings, or at the very least the geometric mean instead of the arithmetic mean, which is what they use now and what "average" traditionaly means. (The geometric mean lessens the effect of outlyers - people who earn a ton of money or almost no money).
$16.03 per hour translates into roughly $33,000 a year. Speaking from many years of previous experience making about that much money, it was very, very difficult to survive. Though I'm making more now, all the evidence points to the conclusion that its still just as hard to get by for most Americans.
Anywho, full set of interesting numbers in the full post...
Employment Situation Summary
Technical information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 05-1459
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
Establishment data: 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release
http://www.bls.gov/ces/ is embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EDT),
Media contact: 691-5902 Friday, August 5, 2005.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JULY 2005
Nonfarm employment grew by 207,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was
unchanged at 5.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor reported today. Over the month, payroll employment rose in many
service-providing industries.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.5 million, and the unemployment
rate, 5.0 percent, were unchanged in July. A year earlier, the number of
unemployed was 8.2 million and the jobless rate was 5.5 percent.
Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups--adult
men (4.3 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites
(4.3 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (5.5 percent)--showed little or no
change. The jobless rate for blacks declined from 10.3 to 9.5 percent over
the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.2 percent, not seasonally
adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Both total employment and the civilian labor force rose in July. The em-
ployment-population ratio, at 62.8 percent, and the labor force participation
rate, at 66.1 percent, were essentially unchanged over the month. The employ-
ment-population ratio has trended up in recent months. (See table A-1.)
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
In July, 1.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,
about the same as a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available
to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were
not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for
work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. There were 499,000 discouraged
workers in July, about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a
subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Hurricane Dennis |
| |
| Hurricane Dennis struck near the beginning of the July reference |
| period, affecting parts of Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. BLS |
| examined survey data from the counties in the path of the storm to |
| ensure that payroll survey responses were at normal levels. Our |
| examination of the survey data suggests that there were no discern-|
| able weather-related effects on national payroll employment as mea-|
| sured by the establishment survey. For the storm to have affected |
| payroll employment, people would have had to have been off work for|
| the entire pay period and not paid for the time missed. (In the |
| household survey, people who miss work for weather-related events |
| are counted as employed whether or not they are paid for the time |
| off.) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
- 2 -
Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________________
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data |
|_________________|__________________________| June-
Category | 2005 | 2005 | July
|_________________|__________________________|change
| I | II | May | June | July |
____________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|____________________________________________________
Civilian labor force| 148,089| 149,003| 149,122| 149,123| 149,573| 450
Employment..........| 140,296| 141,404| 141,475| 141,638| 142,076| 438
Unemployment........| 7,794| 7,599| 7,647| 7,486| 7,497| 11
Not in labor force..| 76,949| 76,671| 76,547| 76,787| 76,580| -207
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Unemployment rates
|____________________________________________________
All workers.........| 5.3| 5.1| 5.1| 5.0| 5.0| 0.0
Adult men...........| 4.7| 4.4| 4.4| 4.3| 4.3| .0
Adult women.........| 4.6| 4.6| 4.6| 4.6| 4.7| .1
Teenagers...........| 16.9| 17.4| 17.9| 16.4| 16.1| -.3
White...............| 4.5| 4.4| 4.4| 4.3| 4.3| .0
Black or African | | | | | |
American............| 10.6| 10.3| 10.1| 10.3| 9.5| -.8
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity...........| 6.1| 6.1| 6.0| 5.8| 5.5| -.3
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|____________________________________________________
Nonfarm employment..| 132,814|p133,426| 133,413|p133,579|p133,786| p207
Goods-producing(1)..| 22,054| p22,135| 22,138| p22,136| p22,140| p4
Construction........| 7,127| p7,216| 7,213| p7,228| p7,235| p7
Manufacturing.......| 14,314| p14,294| 14,301| p14,280| p14,276| p-4
Service-providing(1)| 110,759|p111,292| 111,275|p111,443|p111,646| p203
Retail trade(2).....| 15,112| p15,180| 15,186| p15,195| p15,245| p50
Professional and | | | | | |
business services..| 16,755| p16,867| 16,851| p16,908| p16,941| p33
Education and health| | | | | |
services...........| 17,191| p17,288| 17,289| p17,332| p17,353| p21
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality........| 12,641| p12,740| 12,736| p12,760| p12,793| p33
Government..........| 21,725| p21,752| 21,754| p21,756| p21,782| p26
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Hours of work(3)
|____________________________________________________
Total private.......| 33.7| p33.7| 33.7| p33.7| p33.7| p0.0
Manufacturing.......| 40.6| p40.4| 40.4| p40.4| p40.4| p.0
Overtime............| 4.5| p4.4| 4.4| p4.4| p4.5| p.1
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|____________________________________________________
Total private.......| 101.7| p102.4| 102.3| p102.5| p102.7| p0.2
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Earnings(3)
|____________________________________________________
Avg. hourly earnings| | | | | |
total private.......| $15.92| p$16.03| $16.03| p$16.07| p$16.13| p$0.06
Avg. weekly earnings| | | | | |
total private.......| 536.51| p540.86| 540.21| p541.56| p543.58| p2.02
____________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2 Quarterly averages and the over-the-month change are calculated using
unrounded data.
3 Data relate to private production or nonsupervisory workers.
p=preliminary.
- 3 -
specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other
1.0 million persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for
work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
(See table A-13.)
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)
Total nonfarm employment rose by 207,000 in July to 133.8 million, season-
ally adjusted. This followed job gains of 126,000 in May and 166,000 in June
(as revised). In July, there were employment gains in many service-providing
industries, including retail trade, professional and technical services, finan-
cial activities, food services, and health care. (See table B-1.)
Retail trade employment rose by 50,000 in July, following little change in
June. This industry has gained 197,000 jobs over the year. In July, retail
employment gains were widespread, including growth in clothing stores (13,000),
motor vehicle and parts dealers (10,000), and building material and garden
supply stores (7,000).
Employment in professional and technical services increased by 23,000 in
July. Over the year, this industry has added 211,000 jobs. Management and
technical consulting services, as well as architectural and engineering
services, contributed to the July gain.
Employment in financial activities rose by 21,000 over the month, as credit
intermediation and real estate showed continued strength. Since July 2004,
employment in credit intermediation has grown by 93,000, while real estate has
added 54,000 jobs.
Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment in food services and
drinking places rose by 30,000 over the month. This industry has added 262,000
jobs over the year. The health care industry continued to grow in July, adding
29,000 jobs. Ambulatory health care services (which includes doctors' offices
and outpatient clinics), hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities
all contributed to the employment gain. Temporary help services employment was
flat in July and has shown little net change since April.
In the goods-producing sector, construction employment continued to trend
up. Thus far this year, job gains in construction have averaged 21,000 per
month, about in line with the average monthly increase for 2004. In July, manu-
facturing employment was about unchanged. The motor vehicle and parts industry
shed 11,000 jobs, reflecting larger-than-usual shutdowns for annual retooling.
Employment in wood products fell by 4,000. These losses were partly offset
by small increases in several other manufacturing industries. Mining employ-
ment remained about the same over the month.
- 4 -
Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours in July, seasonally adjusted.
The manufacturing workweek remained at 40.4 hours, while manufacturing over-
time increased by 0.1 hour to 4.5 hours. (See table B-2.)
The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers
on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.2 percent in July to 102.7 (2002=100).
The manufacturing index was down by 0.1 percent over the month to 93.4. (See
table B-5.)
Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents in July to $16.13, seasonally adjusted.
Average weekly earnings increased by 0.4 percent over the month to $543.58.
Over the year, both average hourly and weekly earnings grew by 2.7 percent.
(See table B-3.)
posted by SomeGuyInDC @ 5:54 PM
|
