sábado, 3 de mayo de 2008
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: APRIL 2008
Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in April (-20,000), following
job losses that totaled 240,000 in the first 3 months of the year, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The unem-
ployment rate, at 5.0 percent, also was little changed in April. Employment
continued to decline in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade, while
jobs were added in health care and in professional and technical services.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
The number of unemployed persons (7.6 million) and the unemployment rate
(5.0 percent) were little changed in April. A year earlier, the number of
unemployed persons was 6.8 million, and the jobless rate was 4.5 percent.
Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups--adult
men (4.6 percent), teenagers (15.4 percent), whites (4.4 percent), blacks
(8.6 percent), and Hispanics (6.9 percent)--showed little or no change. The
jobless rate for adult women decreased to 4.3 percent in April, nearly off-
setting an increase in the prior month. The unemployment rate for Asians
was 3.2 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in April. (See tables A-1, A-2,
and A-3.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Both total employment, at 146.3 million, and the employment-population
ratio, at 62.7 percent, were little changed in April. Over the month, the
labor force participation rate held at 66.0 percent; it was the same rate a
year earlier. (See table A-1.)
In April, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons
increased by 306,000 to 5.2 million. This level was 849,000 higher than in
April 2007. These individuals indicated that they 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-5.)
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
About 1.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached
to the labor force in April. These individuals wanted and were available 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 pre-
ceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 412,000 discouraged
workers in April, about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not
currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were avail-
able for them. The other 1.0 million persons classified as marginally attached
to the labor force in April cited reasons such as school attendance or family
responsibilities. (See table A-13.)
Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
_______________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data | Mar.-
Category |_________________|__________________________| Apr.
| | | | | | change
| IV | I | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. |
| 2007 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Civilian labor force ....| 153,667| 153,661| 153,374| 153,784| 153,957| 173
Employment ............| 146,291| 146,070| 145,993| 145,969| 146,331| 362
Unemployment ..........| 7,375| 7,591| 7,381| 7,815| 7,626| -189
Not in labor force ......| 79,270| 79,146| 79,436| 79,211| 79,241| 30
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Unemployment rates
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
All workers .............| 4.8| 4.9| 4.8| 5.1| 5.0| -0.1
Adult men .............| 4.3| 4.4| 4.3| 4.6| 4.6| .0
Adult women ...........| 4.2| 4.3| 4.2| 4.6| 4.3| -.3
Teenagers .............| 16.4| 16.8| 16.6| 15.8| 15.4| -.4
White .................| 4.3| 4.4| 4.3| 4.5| 4.4| -.1
Black or African | | | | | |
American ............| 8.6| 8.8| 8.3| 9.0| 8.6| -.4
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity ...........| 5.9| 6.5| 6.2| 6.9| 6.9| .0
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Nonfarm employment.......| 138,031|p137,920| 137,919|p137,838|p137,818| p-20
Goods-producing (1)....| 22,042| p21,817| 21,816| p21,728| p21,618| p-110
Construction ........| 7,521| p7,381| 7,382| p7,336| p7,275| p-61
Manufacturing .......| 13,788| p13,690| 13,690| p13,642| p13,596| p-46
Service-providing (1)..| 115,989|p116,103| 116,103|p116,110|p116,200| p90
Retail trade (2)...| 15,490| p15,437| 15,429| p15,410| p15,383| p-27
Professional and | | | | | |
business services .| 18,093| p18,068| 18,073| p18,029| p18,068| p39
Education and health | | | | | |
services ..........| 18,527| p18,663| 18,665| p18,708| p18,760| p52
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality .......| 13,622| p13,660| 13,660| p13,677| p13,695| p18
Government ..........| 22,291| p22,358| 22,362| p22,376| p22,385| p9
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Hours of work (3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ...........| 33.8| p33.7| 33.7| p33.8| p33.7| p-0.1
Manufacturing .........| 41.2| p41.1| 41.1| p41.2| p40.9| p-.3
Overtime ............| 4.1| p4.0| 4.0| p4.0| p3.9| p-.1
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ...........| 107.7| p107.4| 107.3| p107.6| p107.2| p-0.4
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Earnings (3)
|_____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private .........| $17.64| p$17.81| $17.81| p$17.87| p$17.88| p$0.01
Average weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private .........| 596.34| p600.80| 600.20| p604.01| p602.56| p-1.45
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
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 and nonsupervisory workers.
p = preliminary.
- 3 -
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)
Total nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in April (-20,000). Job
losses continued in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade. Employment
grew in health care and in professional and technical services. (See table B-1.)
In April, employment in construction declined by 61,000, with losses continuing
throughout most of the sector. Since its peak in September 2006, construction em-
ployment has fallen by 457,000.
Manufacturing employment fell by 46,000 over the month; nearly all the decline
occurred in durable goods manufacturing. In April, large job losses occurred in
motor vehicles and parts (-17,000) and in fabricated metal products (-11,000).
Declines also occurred in furniture and related products (-4,000) and in semicon-
ductors and electronic components (-3,000). Over the past 12 months, manufacturing
employment has declined by 326,000.
Employment in retail trade continued to trend down, with a decrease of 27,000 in
April. Since its peak in March 2007, the industry has shed 137,000 jobs. Over the
month, job losses continued in building material and garden supply stores (-12,000)
and in department stores (-8,000).
Employment in health care continued to increase in April with a gain of 37,000.
This industry has added 365,000 jobs over the past 12 months. In April, there were
gains of 22,000 jobs in ambulatory health care services and 9,000 jobs in hospitals.
Professional and technical services employment rose by 27,000 in April after
showing little change during the first quarter of 2008. Computer systems design
added 10,000 jobs over the month and employment in accounting and bookkeeping ser-
vices edged up by 9,000. Employment in temporary help services continued to trend
down.
Employment continued to trend upward in food services in April (18,000), although
job gains in this industry have slowed over the past 6 months. Since October 2007,
food services employment has grown by an average of 13,000 per month; this compares
to an average increase of 28,000 jobs per month for the preceding 12-month period.
Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
In April, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on pri-
vate nonfarm payrolls was down by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours, seasonally adjusted. The
manufacturing workweek declined by 0.3 hour to 40.9 hours, and factory overtime was
down by 0.1 hour to 3.9 hours. (See table B-2.)
The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.4 percent in April to 107.2 (2002=100). The man-
ufacturing index declined by 1.2 percent to 92.0. (See table B-5.)
Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
In April, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 1 cent, or 0.1 percent, to $17.88, seasonally
adjusted. This followed gains of 6 cents in February and in March. Average weekly
earnings fell by 0.2 percent in April to $602.56. Over the past 12 months, aver-
age hourly earnings increased by 3.4 percent and average weekly earnings rose by
3.1 percent. (See table B-3.)
Publicar un comentario