February Employment Blog

By Stephen Singer, February 16, 2015

This employment report is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 257,000 in January, and the unemployment rate, at 5.7 percent, was little changed. Job gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, financial activities, and manufacturing. After incorporating revisions that increased total nonfarmemployment by 147,000 for November and December combined (including the impact of the annual benchmark process), monthly job gains have averaged 336,000 over the past 3 months. In 2014, employment growth averaged 260,000 per month. This information is summarized in Charts 1 and 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retail trade added 46,000 jobs in January. Employment increased in sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (+9,000); motor and vehicle parts dealers (+8,000); and nonstore retailers (+6,000).

Construction employment increased by 39,000 in January. Job gains occurred in residential and nonresidential building (+13,000 and +7,000, respectively). In 2014, employment growthin construction averaged 28,000 per month. Health care added 38,000 jobs in January.

Employment rose in offices of physicians (+13,000), hospitals (+10,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+7,000). Job growth in health care averaged 26,000 per month in 2014.

Employment in financial activities increased by 26,000 in January, with about half the gain in insurance carriers and related activities (+14,000). Employment in the securities industry rose by 5,000. In 2014, financial activities added 159,000 jobs.

Manufacturing employment increased by 22,000 in January. Job gains occurred in motor vehicles and parts (+7,000) and wood products (+4,000). Over the past 12 months, employment in manufacturing has grown by 228,000.

Employment in professional and technical services rose by 33,000 in January. Within the industry, job gains occurred in architectural and engineering services (+8,000) and computer systems design (+8,000). In 2014, professional and technical services added an average of 25,000 jobs per month.

Food services and drinking places employment continued to trend up (+35,000) in January, in line with average job growth in 2014.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 12 cents to $24.75 in January, following a decline of 5 cents in December. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent. From December 2013 to December 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 0.7 percent.

Turning to the survey of households, the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.7 percent in January. The jobless rate has shown no net change since October. There were 9.0 million unemployed persons in January, little different from the prior month. The number of unemployed persons who had been jobless for 27 weeks or more was essentially unchanged (2.8 million). These individuals accounted for 31.5 percent of the total unemployed.

The labor force participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 62.9 percent in January, following a decline of the same magnitude in the prior month. The employment-population ratio was little changed at 59.3 percent in January. Among the employed, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons was 6.8 million, about unchanged over the month. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment, but had their hours cut or were unable to find full-time work.