Employment Blog November 2018

This employment blog is taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U S Department of Labor.  Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 250,000 in October, and the unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent. Employment increased in health care, in manufacturing, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing. Incorporating revisions for August and September, which offset each other, monthly job gains averaged 218,000 over the past 3 months. Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on October 10, 2018, during the reference periods for both the establishment and household surveys. Hurricane Michael had no discernible effect on the national employment and unemployment estimates for October, and response rates for the two surveys were within normal ranges. This is detailed in Charts 1 and 2 below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In October, health care added 36,000 jobs. Within the industry, job gains occurred in hospitals (+13,000) and in nursing and residential care facilities (+8,000). Employment in ambulatory health care services continued to trend up (+14,000). Over the year, employment in health care increased by 323,000.

Manufacturing added 32,000 jobs in October. Most of this increase occurred in the durable goods component (+21,000), with a gain of 10,000 jobs in transportation equipment. Over the past 12 months, manufacturing added 296,000 jobs, the bulk of which were in durable goods.

Employment in construction increased by 30,000 in October and by 330,000 over the year. Residential specialty trade contractors added 14,000 jobs over the month.

Transportation and warehousing added 25,000 jobs in October. Job growth in the industry has picked up over the past 3 months. In October, job gains occurred in couriers and messengers (+8,000) and in warehousing and storage (+8,000).

Employment in leisure and hospitality edged up in October (+42,000). Employment was unchanged in September, likely reflecting the impact of Hurricane Florence. The average job gain over these 2 months (+21,000) was the same as the average monthly gain in the industry for the 12 months prior to September.

October, employment in professional and business services continued to trend up (+35,000). Over the year, the industry added 516,000 jobs.

Employment in mining also continued to trend up over the month (+5,000) and was up by 65,000 over the year.

Employment in other major industries–including wholesale trade, retail trade, information, financial activities, and government–showed little change over the month.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 5 cents in October to $27.30. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings were up by 3.1 percent. From September 2017 to September 2018, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.3 percent (on a seasonally adjusted basis).

Real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.1 percent from September to October, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This result stems from a 0.2-percent increase in average hourly earnings combined with a 0 .3-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Real average weekly earnings increased 0.1 percent over the month due to the decrease in real average hourly earnings being combined with a 0.3-percent increase in the average workweek. This is detailed in Chart 3 below.