Tag: Wage and Salary Employment

U.S. Employment Continues Growth at a Slower Rate

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On December 4th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly update for U.S. nonfarm payroll employment for November. The number of non-seasonally adjusted jobs increased by 2,650,000 in November compared to a year ago.

Based on current trends, the U.S. is on track to add 2,959,455 jobs in 2015.That equates to about 269,000 workers per month.

The November unemployment rate remained at 5.0% down from 5.8% a year ago. There were 7.9 million unemployed compared to 9.0 million last November.

A look at the seasonally adjusted data shows that job growth occurred in construction, professional and technical services, and health care. Losses occurred only in the mining and information sectors.

• Construction employment posted a gain of 46,000 in November. About 26,000 of those jobs were in the residential specialty trade contracting subsector. Year-over year construction employment is about 259,000 workers greater than last November.

• Professional and technical services added 28,000 jobs in November. About 11,000 jobs were in accounting and bookkeeping services and 5,000 were in computer systems design services. Compared to a year ago, the PST sector is about 298,000 jobs greater than the same period in 2015.

• Health care employment for November was 24,000 greater than October. About 13,000 workers were added in the hospital subsector. On a YOY basis health care employment is about 470,000 greater in 2015.

• Employment in food services and drinking places increase by about 32,000 jobs in November and it is up by 374,000 greater than a year ago.

• Combined, the four sectors mentioned above show job gains of about 1.4 million compared to a year ago.

• Compared to the prior month there was little change in the following sectors: manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and government.

All eyes will continue to be on the Fed and their meeting later this month. Although U.S. employment has increased at a decreasing rate through 2015, the latest BLS report is probably strong enough for them to finally announce a hike in short term interest rates.

Moving forward the $64 question is, “Will job growth continue at the rate experienced in the second half of the year or will we move forward at the more robust rate shown in the first half of the year?”

U.S. Employment

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data May Not Correctly Tell the Story

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It is questionable whether the wage and salary data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reflects what is happening on the streets of Colorado. With that in mind, the following paragraphs tell the story of the Colorado economy based on the headlines.

The Headlines

Comments made by Mark Snead

The former director of the Denver Branch of the Kansas City Fed has said that the Tier I energy states are on the verge of recession. To date, the economies in Tier II states have been much stronger and job gains in other industries have more than offset job losses in the energy sector.

On a different note, Snead posted in a blog post saying that” the current expansion is getting to be a bit long in the tooth.” It is 74 months and running.

Government

Governments are optimistic given the following actions:
• Boulder has approved their 2016 budget which includes the addition of 48 employees.
• Governor Hickenlooper has promised $100 million to make Colorado the “best state for biking.”
• The U.S. Treasury CDFI fund has given a $2 million grant to The Colorado Enterprise Fund to support local small businesses.
• The state approved $12.8 million in tax credits for two companies that might result in 1,600 jobs. These companies are in the health care and energy solutions industries.
• Loveland city council will discuss a proposal to provide high-tech manufacturing consulting and training organization EWI with $2 million in funding to open a facility at the Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation and Technology.
• In an uncharacteristic move, the state rejected a proposal for tax credits for a Colorado company that would increase health care employment by 1,418 jobs. The justification was the state did not have the workers to fill the jobs and would have to import them.

Aerospace
Aerospace is one of Colorado’s targeted high tech industries, yet it is in a state of flux with increased involvement from the private sector. The impact of some of the changes remains to be seen.
• Lockheed Martin could lay off 500 IT workers (nationally).
• Aeroject Rocketdyne made an unsolicited bid of $2 billion for United Launch Alliance.
• Jeff Bezos announces Cape Canaveral as the base for his commercial aerospace program.

Retail
The budgets for many cities rely heavily on taxes generated from retail trade sales. Nationally some retail chains are struggling. At the moment that appears to be an issue with the companies, not the industry.
• Best Buy in Broomfield has announced it is closing on October 31.
• A January restructuring caused Macy’s to shutter 14 stores and it recently announced it will close an additional 35 to 40 stores in early 2016. The company runs 770 Macy’s stores and has closed 52 locations over the last five years while opening 12. It is not known if Colorado stores will be closed.

Technology
Colorado has always prided itself for its technology clusters.
• Hewlett-Packard has announced worldwide cuts of 25,000 to 30,000. There is uncertainty whether this will negatively impact Colorado or benefit it if consolidation brings workers to the state.
• Level 3 has announced a round of layoffs associated with the company’s merger with TW Telecomm that took place last fall. The location and number of these workers has not been announced.
• Seagate will layoff 70 workers in Longmont
• Astra Zeneca bought the Boulder Amgen facility and may add 400 jobs.

Construction
Some construction leaders are clamoring that the growth of the industry and the economy may not reach its potential in part because of the lack of trained workers. The lack of a trained workforce has occurred despite solid growth in wages. At the same time, non-seasonally adjusted construction spending is at its highest level since May 2008.

Energy
Synergy Resources paid $78 million to K.P. Kaufman for assets in the Wattenberg Field. After record oil production in May, June production dropped off slightly.

Time will tell whether the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the headlines are correct.

Eight of Top Ten States for Proved Oil Reserves Added Jobs at a Faster Annualized Rate than the U.S.

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Between 2007 and 2012, the annualized rate of change in U.S. wage and salary  employment was -0.6%.

Only 2 of the top 10 states for proved oil reserves were worse – California (-1.0%) and New Mexico (-1.0%).

Colorado (-0.2%) and Utah (-0.1%)posted slight annualized job losses. Wyoming (0.1%), Louisiana (0.1%), and Oklahoma (0.2%) experienced slight annualized job gains.

Texas posted annualized gains of 0.9%, Alaska was 1.1% and North Dakota was 3.7%.

Eight of the states grew at a rate faster than the U.S., while 6 posted positive gains.

The extractive industries played a key role in the growth of the economy during the recovery.

©Copyright 2011 by CBER.