Unlocking employment insights for our clients

By Stephen Singer, May 2, 2013

Each month, the US Department of Labor surveys 145,000 businesses and government agencies to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. This data provides rich insights for our clients, and we will be blogging regularly about employment insights and major trends across sectors and geographies.

Our business, Employmentskiptracing.com, finds verified employment data on debtors for our clients, who include collection attorneys, collection agencies, finance companies and debt

buyers. Our ability to find employment data for debtors depends on a number of factors, but two of the most important ones are national and regional employment trends. For example, a month of poor national job growth decreases the likelihood that debtors can find employment. This likelihood, however, varies by region. In North Dakota, where unemployment is low at 3.3%, debtors can find jobs more easily, which means Employmentskiptracing.com can also verify their employment data more easily.  In Nevada, where unemployment is high at 9.7%, we expect debtors to struggle to find jobs. This means we are less likely to verify employment information for these debtors.

We can look to sector data for similar insights. Strong growth in the retail sector, which is a popular sector for debtors, makes it more likely for Employmentskiptracing.com to find employment data.

Major Trends:

• Nonfarm payroll increased in March 2013 by 88,000 nationally. This compares to an average of 169,000 over the prior 12 month period.
• The national unemployment rate of 7.6% remained unchanged.

Sector Trends:

• Job growth rose by 51,000 in professional and business services for the month versus an average gain of 44,000 over the prior 12-month period.
• Healthcare job growth rose by 23,000, which was comparable to average 12-month job growth.
• Employment in construction increased by 18,000.
• Employment in retail decreased by 24,000 compared to an increase of 32,000 over the last 6 months.
• Employment in government declined; the biggest chunk was 12,000 from the US Postal Service.
• Other sectors showed no major gain or loss.

Regional Trends:

Since most of our clients focus on collections within one state or region, we thought it’d be helpful to breakout regional trends. The table below provides a list of states with statistically significant employment changes in the month of March 2013. Florida and California lead the nation in employment gain. Ohio, Illinois and Indiana lead the nation in employment loss.

Table D States with Significant Employment Changes March 2013

Also of interest is the significant variability in unemployment by state. The West North Central continues to have the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. California/Nevada and the East North Central have the most unemployment.

Chart 1 Unemployment Rates by State March 2013

For more detailed information see the BLS News Release on Regional and State Employment.