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NEW EMPLOYMENT DATA

 

MOST RECENT U.S. EMPLOYMENT DATA

The unemployment rate in April was 7.5%; which accounts for 11.7 million persons.  Employment rose in the following industries - Professional and Business Services (+73,000), Food Services and Drinking Establishments (+38,000), Retaill Trade (+29,000) and Health Care.

 

>>  Household Survey Data At-A-Glance

The unemployment rate has marginally changed since last month with 11.7 million persons being unemployed in April.  Among the major work groups, those most affected were Teens, African Americans and Latinos, expeiencing the highest levels of unemployment over the year.

            >   Men 7.1 (+0.2% since March) 

            >   Women 6.7% (-0.3% since March)

            >   Teens 24.1% (-0.1% since March)

            >   Caucasians 6.7% (unchanged since March)

            >   African Americans 13.2% (-0.1% since March)

            >   Latinos/Hispanics 9.0% (-0.2% since March) 

            >   Asians 5.1% (+0.1% since March) 

Long-term unemployment (jobless for 27+ weeks) declined by 258,000 to 4.4 million; accounting for 37.4% of the unemployed. 

 

>>  Involuntary Part-Time Workers

The number of persons employed part-time for economic reasons increased by 278,000 in April, at 7.9 million. These persons were working part-time either because their hours had been cut or because they were unable to find full-time work.

 

>>  Marginally Attached Labor Force (not seasonally adjusted)

During the month of April 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the work force, which is virtually unchanged from a year earlier.  These persons were not in the labor force, wanted (and were available for work) work and had looked for a job sometime in the past 12 months.  They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. 

 

>>  Discouraged Workers (not seasonally adjusted)

Among the marginally attached, there were 835,000 discouraged workers in April; 133,000 more than a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe there are no jobs available.

 

>>  Health/Ambulatory Care Jobs

Healthcare added 19,000 jobs in April, with gains in ambulatory services (+14,000) and social assistance (+7,000).   

                                        

>>  Professional and Business Services

Professional and Business Services added 73,000 jobs in April.  Within the industry, over the past 12 months, employment has grown by 587,000.  The areas experiencing the most growth were temporary help services (+31,000) and professional and technical services (+23,000). 

 

>>  Construction Jobs

The Construction industry remained virtually unchanged during the month of April; but added 27,000 per month over the past 6 months.

 

>>  Retail Jobs

Retail Trade gained 29,000 jobs in April.  However, the industry has added (on average) 21,000 jobs over the last 12 months.  The areas with the most increases occurred in general merchandise stores (+15,000) and health and personal care stores (+5,000). 

 

>>  Leisure and Hospitality

Leisure and hospitality, particularly in relation to food services and drinking establishments continued its upward trend in April adding +38,000 jobs.  Over the past year, the industry has averaged a gain of 25,000 jobs per month.

 

>>  Miscellaneous Jobs News

Employment in industries such as mining, logging, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and government showed little change during the month of April.

 

>>  Average Work Week Hours

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.2 hour in April to 34.4 hours. The manufacturing workweek declined by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, and overtime declined by 0.1 hour to 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours.

 

>>  Average Hourly Earnings

The average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by $0.04 to $23.87. Over the year, average hourly earnings increased by 1.9% (or $0.45).  In April, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by $0.02 to $20.06.

Total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +268,000 to +332,000 and the change for March was revised from +88,000 to +138,000.

A total review of nonfarm payroll data can be found at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm