THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- DECEMBER 2014
Construction added 48,000 jobs in December, well above
the employment gains in recent months. Specialty trade contractors added jobs in
December (+26,000), with the gain about equally split between residential and
nonresidential contractors.Employment also increased in heavy and civil engineering
construction (+12,000) and in nonresidential building (+10,000).
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 in
December, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today.
Job gains occurred
in professional and business services, construction, food services and drinking
places, health care, and manufacturing.
Household Survey
Data
The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to
5.6 percent in December,and the number of unemployed persons declined by 383,000
to 8.7 million. Over theyear, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed
persons were down by 1.1percentage points and 1.7 million, respectively. (See
table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for
adult women (5.0 percent)decreased by 0.2 percentage point in December, while the
rates for adult men (5.3percent), teenagers (16.8 percent), whites (4.8 percent),
blacks (10.4 percent),and Hispanics (6.5 percent) showed little change. The
jobless rate for Asians, at4.2 percent (not seasonally adjusted), changed little
from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
In December, the number of long-term unemployed (those
jobless for 27 weeks or longer) was essentially unchanged at 2.8 million and
accounted for 31.9 percent of the unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term
unemployed has declined by1.1 million. (See table A-12.)
The civilian labor force participation rate edged down by
0.2 percentage point to 62.7 percent in December. Since April, the
participation rate has remained within a narrow range of 62.7 to 62.9 percent. In
December, the employment-population ratio was 59.2 percent for the third
consecutive month. However, the employment-population ratio is up by 0.6 percentage point
over the year. (Seetable A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic
reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed
in December at 6.8 million.These individuals, who would have preferred full-time
employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or
because they were unable to find a full-time job.
(See table A-8.)
In December, 2.3 million persons were marginally attached
to the labor force,little changed from a year earlier. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.) Theseindividuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were
available for work, andhad looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.
They were not counted asunemployed because they had not searched for work in the
4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 740,000
discouraged workers in December, down by 177,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.)Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for
work because they believeno jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million
persons marginallyattached to the labor force in December had not searched
for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See
table A-16.)
Establishment
Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 252,000 in
December. In 2014, job growth averaged 246,000 per month, compared with an
average monthly gain of 194,000 in 2013. In December, employment increased in
professional and business services, construction, food services and drinking places, health
care, and manufacturing. (See table B-1.)
Employment in professional and business services rose by
52,000 in December. Monthly job gains in the industry averaged 61,000 in
2014. In December, employment increased in administrative and waste services (+35,000),
computer systems design and related services (+9,000), and architectural and
engineering services (+5,000). Employment in accounting and bookkeeping services
declined (-14,000), offsetting
an increase of the same amount in November.
Construction added 48,000 jobs in December, well above
the employment gains in recent months. Specialty trade contractors added jobs in
December (+26,000), with the gain about equally split between residential and
nonresidential contractors. Employment also increased in heavy and civil engineering
construction (+12,000) and in nonresidential building (+10,000).
In December, employment in food services and drinking
places increased by 44,000. The industry added an average of 30,000 jobs per month in
2014.
Health care added 34,000 jobs in December. Job gains
occurred in ambulatory health care services (+16,000), nursing and residential care
facilities (+11,000), and hospitals (+7,000). Employment growth in health care
averaged 26,000 per month in 2014 and 17,000 per month in 2013.
In December, manufacturing employment increased by
17,000, with durable goods (+13,000) accounting for most of the gain. Manufacturing
added an average of 16,000 jobs per month in 2014, compared with an average gain of
7,000 jobs per month in 2013.
Employment in wholesale trade and in financial activities
continued to trend up in December.
Employment in retail trade changed little in December,
following a large gain in November. Employment in other major industries, including
mining and logging, transportation and warehousing, information, and
government, changed little in December.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls was unchanged at 34.6 hours in December. The manufacturing workweek
edged down by 0.1 hour to 41.0 hours, and factory overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to
3.6 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on
private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.9 hours. (See tables B-2 and
B-7.)
In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on
private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 5 cents to $24.57, following an increase of
6 cents in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7
percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and
nonsupervisory employees decreased by 6 cents to $20.68. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for
October was revised from +243,000 to +261,000, and the change for November was
revised from +321,000 to +353,000. With these revisions, employment gains in
October and November were 50,000 higher than previously reported.
Table A.
Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in 2014 and changes due to revision January - November
2014
Month As first published As revised Change
January............. 6.6 6.6
0.0
February............ 6.7 6.7 .0
March............... 6.7 6.6 -.1
April............... 6.3 6.2 -.1
May................. 6.3 6.3 .0
June................ 6.1 6.1
.0
July................ 6.2 6.2
.0
August.............. 6.1 6.1 .0
September........... 5.9 5.9
.0
October............. 5.8 5.7 -.1
November............ 5.8 5.8 .0
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the lusted subject.
Source: Bureau of Labor
Statistics
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