U.S. Employment Shows Strong Gain in October

On November 6th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly update for U.S. nonfarm payroll employment. The number of seasonally adjusted jobs increased by 271,000 in October. Over the previous 12 months, employment has increased by an average of 230,000 workers per month. That equates to 2.8 million per year.

The unemployment rate was down from 5.7% to 5.0% a year ago and 5.1% in the previous month. The number of unemployed persons was down from million a year ago to 7.9 million in October.

The areas with the largest increases were professional and business services (PBS), health care, retail trade, food services and drinking places, and construction.
• Employment in the PBS Sector increased by 78,000 in October, compared with an average gain of 52,000 per month over the prior 12 months.
• Health care employment increased by 45,000 jobs in October. Over the past year, health care has added about 41,200 jobs per month, or slightly less than a half million jobs for the year. About 27,000 jobs were added in ambulatory health care services and 18,000 in hospitals.
• The number of retail trade jobs increased by 44,000 in October. This is well above the average monthly gain of 25,000 jobs for the past 12 months. In October about 20,000 were added in clothing and accessories stores, 11,000 were added in general merchandise stores and 6,000 were added in automobile dealerships.
• About 42,000 workers were added in food services and drinking places in October. For the past year the monthly average has been about 31,000.
• Finally, construction employment rose by 31,000 in October. This is slightly higher than previous months. About two-thirds of the October growth was in nonresidential specialty trade contractors.

On the down side, mining employment fell by 5000 workers. The sector peaked in December 2014 and has since shed 109,000 jobs.

Employment in other major industries was similar to the prior month.
It was encouraging to see this level of job gains. Next month, we will learn whether the level of October employment was a “one hit wonder” or a reversal of the downward trend that has been taking place since the second quarter.

U.S. Posts Weak Job Growth in September

On October 2nd the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly update for U.S. nonfarm payroll employment. The number of seasonally adjusted jobs increased by a meager 142,000 workers in September.

Despite the weak job growth in September, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.1% and is likely to continue on a downward trend for the remainder of the year.

For the month of September job growth occurred in five major areas.

• Health care added 34,000 jobs in September. This is slightly below the average increase of 38,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months. About 16,000 jobs were added in hospitals and another 13,000 in ambulatory health care services.

• Employment in information rose by 12,000 in September. The sector has about 44,000 more workers than a year ago.

• During September professional and business services added 31,000 jobs. This is well below the average of 45,000 per month so far this year. By comparison, the sector increased by an average of 59,000 in 2014. Notable job gains occurred in computer systems design and legal services. Because many companies in this sector are a part of the country’s advanced technology cluster, there are concerns that growth is not stronger.

• Retail trade employment rose by 24,000 in September. This is slightly less than the average monthly gain of 27,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Notable gains were in general merchandise stores and automobile dealers.

• Employment in food services and drinking places added 21,000 workers in September, well below the monthly average of 29,100 workers.

Once again, mining employment dropped sharply, this time a decrease of 10,000 workers. Most of the lost jobs were in support activities. Lower prices for a barrel of oil is taking a toll on the industry.

Employment in other major industries was similar to previous months.

Two things are unsettling about the employment report for September:
•The level of job growth is weak.
• The quality of jobs are weak. While it is great that people are finding work, many of the jobs have lower than average wages.

Time will tell whether the economy has headed south or if it has hit a bump in the road.

U.S. Job Growth Remains Strong

On August 7th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly update for U.S. nonfarm payroll employment. The number of jobs increased by 215,000 in July and U.S. job growth falls in the solid-to-strong category.

The areas with the largest increases were retail trade, health care, professional and technical services, and financial activities.

Average U.S. employment for the first seven months of 2015 is 3.1 million greater than the same period in 2014. That is about 256,000 net new jobs per month.

If job gains continue at the current pace, average annual wage and salary employment for 2015 will be about 142 million. As a point of reference, the 2015 population will be about 322 million.

Throughout 2015, U.S. employment has continued to post steady gains (month-over-month prior year) although there has been a slight downward trend since the change in employment peaked in February.

This downward trend is thought to be normal volatility and not a cause for concern. Even with the decrease, the number of jobs added this year will be well above the 2014 total.

All eyes are on the Fed and how they will interpret the latest news from BLS. They would like to see strong job and wage growth before they start raising interest rates; however it is most essential for them to see sustained, solid U.S. job growth. Unfortunately, for workers wage growth is less critical.

The consensus among most economists is that gradual rate hikes will begin in September.

The bottom line – the Fed will raise interest rates and U.S. employment will increase by 3.1 million this year. At this point, both are positive signs for the U.S. economy.

U.S. Job Growth

 

Strong U.S. Job Growth in First Half of 2014

After an inauspicious start to the year, there has been strong U.S. job growth for the subsequent five months. The BLS presented the country with the ideal Fourth of July gift by announcing that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 288,000 workers in June.

The sectors adding the greatest number of jobs were:

  • Professional and business services
  • Retail trade,
  • Food services and drinking places
  • Health care.

More importantly, July represents the fifth consecutive month that the month-over-the-prior-month change was above 200,000. This is the first time that has happened since the end of the Great Recession.

The June unemployment rate fell to 6.1%, down from 7.5% a year ago. Sadly, the number of unemployed has only declined to about 9.5 million.

Many economists believe strong U.S. job growth is on tap for the remainder of the year.

Strong U.S. Job Growth