August Employment Blog

By Stephen Singer, August 12, 2014

This information was provided by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Month Report. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 209,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percent. Over the month, employment increased in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail trade, and construction. Incorporating the revisions for May and June, which increased total nonfarm employment by 15,000, monthly job gains have averaged 245,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior to July, employment growth averaged 209,000 per month.

Professional and business services employment rose by 47,000 in July. Employment continued to trend up across much of the industry, including a gain of 9,000 in architectural and engineering services.

Manufacturing employment rose by 28,000 in July, with increases in motor vehicles and parts (+15,000) and in furniture (+3,000).

Employment in retail trade rose by 27,000 in July, with small gains spread through much of the industry. In the past 12 months, retail trade has added 298,000 jobs.

Construction employment increased by 22,000 in July, with residential builders contributing 6,000 of the gain. Elsewhere in the goods-producing sector, mining employment rose by 8,000.

Employment in social assistance was up by 18,000 in July. (This industry includes child day care and services for the elderly and persons with disabilities.) Health care employment changed little over the month, as job gains in ambulatory health  care services (+21,000) were largely offset by losses in hospitals (-7,000) and nursing care facilities (-6,000).

Turning to the data from the survey of households, the unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in July, little changed over the month but down from 7.3 percent a year earlier.

Charts 1 and 2 summarize this information graphically.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.1
percent before seasonal adjustment. This information is presented in Chart 1 below.