Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 173,000 in
August, and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care and social
assistance and in financial activities. Manufacturing and mining lost jobs.
Household Survey
Data
In August, the unemployment rate edged down to 5.1
percent, and the number of unemployed persons edged down to 8.0 million. Over
the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down
by 1.0 percentage point and 1.5 million, respectively. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for
whites declined to 4.4 percent in August. The rates for adult men (4.7
percent), adult women(4.7 percent), teenagers (16.9 percent), blacks (9.5
percent), Asians(3.5 percent), and Hispanics (6.6 percent) showed little change
in August. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks
decreased by 393,000 to 2.1 million in August. The number of long-term
unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) held at 2.2 million in August
and accounted for 27.7 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the
number of long-term unemployed is down by 779,000. (See table A-12.)
In August, the civilian labor force participation rate
was 62.6 percent for the third consecutive month. The employment-population
ratio, at 59.4 percent, was about unchanged in August and has shown little
movement thus far this year. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic
reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little
changed in August at 6.5 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 August, 1.8 million persons were marginally attached
to the labor force, down by 329,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12
months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for
work in
the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 624,000
discouraged workers in August, down by 151,000 from a year earlier. (The data
are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently
looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The
remaining 1.2 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in August
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 rose by 173,000 in
August. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth had averaged 247,000 per
month. In August, job gains occurred in health care and social assistance and
in financial activities. Employment in manufacturing and mining declined. (See table
B-1.)
Health care and social assistance added 56,000 jobs in
August. Health care employment increased by 41,000 over the month, with job
growth occurring in ambulatory health care services (+21,000) and hospitals
(+16,000). Employment rose by 16,000 in social assistance, which includes child
day care services and services for the elderly and disabled. Over the year,
employment has risen by 457,000 in health care and by 107,000 in social
assistance.
In August, financial activities employment increased by
19,000, with job gains in real estate (+8,000) and in securities, commodity
contracts, and investments (+5,000). Over the year, employment in financial activities
has grown by 170,000.
Employment in professional and business services
continued to trend up in August (+33,000) and has increased by 641,000 over the
year.
Employment in food services and drinking places continued
on an upward trend in August (+26,000), in line with its average monthly gain
of 31,000 over the prior 12 months.
Manufacturing employment decreased by 17,000 in August,
after changing little in July (+12,000). Job losses occurred in a number of
component industries, including fabricated metal products and food
manufacturing (-7,000 each). These losses more than offset gains in motor
vehicles and parts (+6,000) and in miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing
(+4,000). Thus far this year, overall employment in manufacturing has shown
little net change.
Employment in mining fell in August (-9,000), with losses
concentrated in support activities for mining (-7,000). Since reaching a peak
in December 2014, mining employment has declined by 90,000.
Employment in other major industries, including
construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing,
and government, showed little change over the month.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours in August. The manufacturing
workweek was unchanged at 40.8 hours, and factory overtime edged down by 0.1
hour to 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory
employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours. (See tables
B-2 and B-7.)
In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on
private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents to $25.09, following a 6-cent gain in
July. Hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent over the year. Average hourly
earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by
5 cents to $21.07 in August. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June
was revised from +231,000 to +245,000, and the change for July was revised from
+215,000 to +245,000. With these revisions, employment gains in June and July
combined were 44,000 more than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job
gains have averaged 221,000 per month.
Table
A-7. Employment status of the civilian population by nativity and sex, not
seasonally adjusted
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
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