Employment Blog September 2016

This employment report is from the U S Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in August, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent. Employment continued to trend up in several service-providing industries. Incorporating revisions for June and July, which reduced nonfarm payroll employment by 1,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 232,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior to August, employment growth averaged 204,000 per month. This trend is summarized in Charts 1 and 2 below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in August (+34,000). Over the year, the industry has added 312,000 jobs.

The social assistance industry added 22,000 jobs in August, mostly in individual and family services (+17,000).

Employment in professional and technical services edged up by 20,000 in August, roughly in line with the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+24,000).

Employment in financial activities continued on an upward trend in August (+15,000), with a gain of 6,000 in securities, commodity contracts, and investments. The financial activities sector has added 167,000 jobs over the year.

Health care employment continued to trend up over the month (+14,000), but at a pace well below the average monthly gain over the prior 12 months (+39,000). In August, hospitals added 11,000 jobs, and employment in ambulatory health care services trended up (+13,000). A job loss in nursing and residential care facilities (-9,000) offset a gain in July.

Mining employment continued on a downward trend in August (-4,000). Although job losses have moderated in the last 3 months, employment in mining has fallen by 223,000 since a peak in September 2014.

Employment changed little over the month in several other industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, temporary help services, and government.

In August, most major labor market measures from the survey of households continued to show little or no change. The unemployment rate was 4.9 percent for the third consecutive month and has shown little net movement during the past year.

Real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.1 percent from July to August, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This result stems from a 0.1-percent increase in average hourly earnings being more than offset by a 0.2-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Real average weekly earnings decreased 0.4 percent over the month due to the decrease in real average hourly earnings combined with a 0.3-percent decrease in the average workweek. This trend is detailed in Chart 1a below.