• Unemployment at 9.8%, Dept of Labor Jobs Report Shows

    The monthly jobs report from the Department of Labor shows unemployment at 9.8% as another 263,000 jobs were lost in September. Here's the grim picture: The report contained some more bad news in a couple of areas that we've tried to keep an eye on throughout the year. The percentage of unemployed workers who qualify as "long-term unemployed"--they have been out of work for 27 weeks or more--rose to 35.6%, bringing the total number of long-term unemployed Americans to 5.4 million. The number of Americans "marginally attached" to the labor force is now at 2.2 million, 706,000 of whom qualify as "discouraged workers"--persons no longer looking for work because they believe there are no jobs. There were 239,000 discouraged workers at the end of September 2008. You can read the Bureau of Labor Statistics release here . The jobs report was the lead item on Wall Street Journal's AM Report today. Have a look:

  • Unemployment at 9.7%

    The US moved closer to an official unemployment rate in double figures last month. The Department of Labor announced this morning that another 466,000 jobs were lost in August, bringing the unemployment rate to 9.7%. Here's a look at the two-year trend, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics : The unemployment rate for adult men passed the double digit mark last month, and now is at 10.1%. And the negative trend in discouraged and marginally-attached workers continued. From the BLS release: About 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in August, reflecting an increase of 630,000 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 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, the number of discouraged workers in August (758,000) has nearly doubled over the past 12 months. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) 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 August had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. So if recovery is indeed beginning, it is clear that it is a jobless one. Read the report here .

  • BLS: Big Quarter-to-Quarter Rise in Productivity

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report today on productivity and costs for the second quarter of 2009. Productivity increased 6.6% over the first quarter: This was the largest productivity increase since the third quarter of 2003, and reflects declines of 1.5 percent in output and 7.6 percent in hours worked. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.) From the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009, output fell 5.5 percent while hours fell 7.2 percent, yielding an increase in productivity of 1.9 percent (chart 1, tables A and 2). Nonfarm business productivity increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from 2000 through 2008. As productivity rose, labor costs declined 5.9% in the quarter. Read the release here .

  • Temp Help Numbers

    On Friday we looked at some of the internal data form the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment numbers. Barry Ritholtz looked deeper and found some positive signs in the Temp Help employment numbers. Not overwhelmingly positive signs, but positive nonetheless. And Ritholtz argues that temp help numbers can be a strong indicator "as to the demand for Labor and Employer confidence." Read Temporary Help is Less Bad here .

  • Inside the Employment Numbers

    The Labor Department released monthly unemployment numbers this morning, and there seem to be some good signs for the economy. The headline: nonfarm payrolls declined by 247,000 in July. That's the smallest drop in 11 months. Unemployment held steady at 9.4%. Not a pretty number, but at least for the moment, the leveling off shown below is welcome for the economy: This does not mean an end to the threat of 10% or greater unemployment, as the Wall Street Journal 's Brian Blackstone writes: Despite the surprising dip in the unemployment rate, a double-digit rate is still possible in the next few months. Not only does the economy have to stop contracting to add jobs, it needs to grow around 2.5% consistently just to keep up with new entrants into the labor force. Even if the economy does expand in the 3% range this quarter, as some economists expect, few expect that type of growth to be sustained given the headwinds consumers still face from stagnant incomes and lost housing wealth. Looking inside the numbers, there are some negative figures that continue to haunt. The number of marginally attached workers is now at 2.3 million, and the number of long-term unemployed--out of work for 27 weeks or more--is now at 5.0 million. But there is are some details that could represent more positive news to come. Average hourly earnings are up 3 pennies--to $18.56. And the average workweek grew 0.1 hour. A tiny figure, to be sure, but it is the first rise in that statistic since last August. If employers are increasing hours, that could be a sign that they are more confident moving forward. Read the Bureau of Labor Statistics release on the job numbers here .

  • Rising Gas Prices Lift CPI

    The Consumer Price Index rose 0.9% in June. The seasonally adjusted rate of growth was 0.7%. The rise in energy prices seems to be a key factor, as the gasoline index rose 17.3 % in the month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , but it was not the only index that turned up. Food reversed price declines from May, and the housing index held steady after three months of decline. The year to-date trends look strong overall: The CPI-U all items index advanced at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2009 after increasing at a 2.2 percent rate in the first quarter. This brings the year-to-date SAAR to 2.7 percent and compares with a 0.1 percent increase in all of 2008. The index for energy, which fell 21.3 percent during 2008, rose at a 14.8 percent SAAR in the first six months of 2009. Energy commodities increased at a 52.1 percent rate in the first half of the year, while energy services declined at a 13.6 percent rate. The index for food declined at a 1.1 percent SAAR in the first six months of 2009 after rising 5.9 percent in all of 2008. The food at home index declined at a 3.8 percent rate during the first half of 2009 after rising 6.6 percent in 2008. Read the BLS report here .

  • June Jobless Numbers: Unemployment now 9.5%

    The national unemployment rate is now up to 9.5%. The Labor Department reported job loss statistics for June this morning. Monthly job losses totaled 467,000. That's a siginficant improvement from earlier this year, when monthly job losses neared 700,000, but it is much higher than most economists expected--the DowJones Newswire Survey of economists predicted 350,000 jobs shed during the month . All told, as the Wall Street Journal points out, the economy has lost 6.5 million jobs since the start of the recession at the end of 2007. The health care sector saw an increase of 21,000 jobs, but otherwise losses last month were spread across just about every other sector: Employment in manufacturing fell by 136,000 over the month and has declined by 1.9 million during the recession. Within the durable goods industry, motor vehicles and parts (-27,000), fabricated metal products (-18,000), computer and electronic products (-16,000), and machinery (-14,000) continued to lose jobs in June. Since the recession began, employment in motor vehicles and parts has declined by 335,000, or about one-third. In June, employment in construction fell by 79,000, with losses spread throughout the industry. Since the start of the recession, construction employment has fallen by 1.3 million. Mining employment fell by 8,000 in June, about in line with the average monthly decline since its recent peak in October 2008. Employment in the professional and business services industry declined by 118,000 in June. This industry has shed 1.5 million jobs since an employment peak in December 2007. Within this sector, employment in temporary help services fell by 38,000 in June; this industry has lost 848,000 jobs since the start of the recession. The number of Americans classified as "marginally attached to the labor force," or "long term unemployed" continues to rise as well. 2.2 million Americans are now marginally attached to the labor force, and 4.4 million qualify as long term unemployed. And Planet Money pulls out another negative statistic: As of June, the average job search was clocking in at 24.5 weeks . That's compared to 22.5 in May. So we have almost the same rate of joblessness, but it's taking longer to replace a job that's been lost. Read the Bureau of Labor Statistics release on the jobs data here .

  • Mapping State by State Unemployment

    The Department of Labor has new employment figures out for May. The national unemployment rate now sits at 9.4%. That's up from 8.9% in April, and from 5.5% in May 2008. The state figures look something like this: From the Bureau of Labor Statistics release: In May, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 39 states and increased in 11 states and the District of Columbia. The largest over-the-month decrease in the level of employment occurred in California (-68,900), followed by Florida (-61,000), Texas (-24,700), and Michigan (-23,900). Arizona and Florida experienced the largest over-the-month percentage decreases in employment (-0.8 percent each), followed by Oklahoma (-0.7 percent) and Arkansas, Kentucky, and Michigan (-0.6 percent each). The largest over-the-month increases in employment occurred in Massachusetts (4,900), Connecticut (3,600), North Dakota (3,000), and Alaska (2,900). Alaska (+0.9 percent) experienced the largest over-the-month percentage increase, followed by North Dakota (+0.8 percent) and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Mexico (+0.2 percent each). Over the year, nonfarm employment decreased in 48 states and the District of Columbia, increased in 1 state, and remained unchanged in 1 state. The largest over-the-year percentage decreases occurred in Arizona (-7.4 percent), Michigan (-7.2 percent), Nevada (-6.1 percent), Idaho (-5.5 percent), Oregon (-5.4 percent), and Florida (-5.3 percent). Only North Dakota (+1.4 percent) reported an over-the-year percentage increase, and Alaska (0.0 percent) reported no over-the-year percent-age change. Read the full release here .

  • Good News in the Bad News on Jobless Claims

    The Labor Department has released unemployment figures for May and the prevailing opinion seems to be that the numbers are good in that they aren't as bad as they could be. But they are bad. Unemployment is now over 9 percent for the first time in a quarter century. Another 345,000 jobs were lost last month, bringing unemployment to 9.4%. What's the good news? Economists had expected the May job loss to be much higher--525,000 according to the Washington Post 's Neil Irwin . Irwin writes : The data was welcome news, despite the rising jobless rate, because it suggested the furious pace of job losses -- which peaked at 741,000 jobs lost in January -- is finally easing. It is the strongest evidence yet that the economy's downdraft of the winter has given way to a more steady, measured decline. Measured decline is still decline, of course. And the figures are a little more daunting when you compare them on a year-by-year basis. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , unemployment is now 3.9 percentage points higher than May of 2008. Take a look at the larger trend. Some other long-term numbers stand out from this month's report. The number of Americans marginally attached to the labor force is now at 2.2 million--nearly 800,000 more than a year ago (read our post: Rise of Discouraged Workers ). And the number of "long-term unemployed"--those people who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more--is now at 3.9 million. That's triple what it was at the beginning of the recession. Read the BLS's report here .

  • Unemployment Hits 8.9%

    The federal goverment's stress tests for banks used 10 percent unemployment as a worst case scenario. Time will tell whether that was set high enough. New figures released by the Labor Department this morning show unemployment continues to rise toward that 10 percent mark. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics report: Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in April (-539,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector industries. Overall, private-sector employment fell by 611,000. Read the BLS report here .

  • State by State Unemployment Data--Bad News in the Northwest

    The Labor Department has put out state-by-state unemployment figures, and the Pacific has become the leading geographical division for job losses with 10.8 percent. Oregon had the highest year over year increase in unemployment, with a rise of 6.6 percent. North Carolina had the highest monthly increase, as the state shed 41,300 jobs and unemployment rose 1 percent in March. Only North Dakota and Washington, DC had unemployment rates that decreased from February to March. You can read the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report here . I wrote about Oregon's unemployment problem earlier this week. Today I'm in Seattle, where the statistics aren't quite as bad, but there is plenty of discussion (and hand wringing) over jobs. Washington's unemployment rate went up 0.9 percent in March, and more layoffs are looming. Boeing , which moved its headquarters to Chicago a few years back but continues to be one of the Northwest's largest employers, announced earlier this week that it will cut 6 percent of its workforce. That amounts to 10,000 jobs across the company. About half of those jobs will be in Washington, according to the Seattle Times . Boeing had grown jobs in the state from 2004 through 2008, but the latest round of cuts means the company has shed roughly a third of its Washington work force in the last decade (see the chart at right from the Seattle Times. And noone in this city thinks that won't have a significant impact on the Seattle economy for at least the rest of 2009.

  • March Unemployment Figures--and the Bureau of Labor Statistics Methodology

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics released unemployment figures for March this morning. Nonfarm payroll employment dropped 663,000 jobs last month, and unemployment rose to 8.5%--the highest since November 1983 (when the rate was also 8.5%). Manufacturing was hardest hit, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, losing 161,000 jobs in March. Health Care was the only sector with an increase in jobs, adding a modest 8,000 jobs in the month. As bad as these numbers look, the Washington Post points out that the labor market is actually significantly weaker than the official report shows . Groups excluded from the official count include people who are working part time but would rather be working full time, people who want to work but haven't looked for a job in the past month, and people who have become discouraged and given up looking. If those groups are included, the unemployment rate is 16.2 percent, up slightly from February. The Post's Ed O'Keefe provides a good primer of exactly how the BLS goes about compiling and releasing the unemployment figures here: Read the BLS release here .

  • January Mass Layoffs--Fewer "Events" From December, More Jobs Lost

    The number of mass layoff events--50 employees or more laid off in a single event--declined from December to January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . There were 2,227 mass layoff events last month, compared to 2,275 in December. But the number of people who lost jobs in these layoffs increased to 237, 902--11,785 over December figures. The total number of events is up by nearly 50% over January 2008. "Temporary help services" had the highest number of inital claims of any industry with 25, 467, but overall, manufacturing jobs were hit the worst. The manufacturing sector accounted for 38 percent of all mass layoff events and 44 percent of initial claims filed in January 2009; a year earlier, manufacturing made up 30 percent of events and 35 percent of initial claims. This January, the number of manufacturing claimants was greatest in transportation equipment (57,173) and machinery (14,120). (See table 3.) The administrative and waste services industry accounted for 12 percent of mass layoff events and associated initial claims during the month. The South was the hardest hit region (among the 4 census regions) in January with 115,630 jobs lost in mass layoffs. The Midwest lost 114,195 jobs to mass layoffs, compared to 81, 846 in the West and 77,142 in the Northeast. You can get the full data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website here .