Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up (+92,000) in July, and the unemployment rate (4.6 percent) was essentially unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment grew in several service-providing industries. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents,or 0.3 percent.
Let's look a bit deeper into the numbers.
-- Goods producing industries dropped by 12,000. Construction employment dropped by 12,000. This shouldn't surprise anybody considering the current situation in the housing market.
-- Education/Health and Leisure and Hospitality accounted for 61,000 of the 92,000 or about 2/3 of the jobs created. These are considered low paying jobs.
These numbers came in below market expectations of about 130,000.
From Bloomberg:
Employers in the U.S. added a fewer-than-forecast 92,000 workers to payrolls last month and the jobless rate unexpectedly rose, a sign the labor market is cooling.
The increase in jobs followed a 126,000 gain in June that was smaller than previously reported, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 4.6 percent, the first increase since April, from 4.5 percent. Wages gained 3.9 percent from a year earlier.
From CBS.Marketwatch:
The U.S. labor market softened slightly in July, according to the latest government statistics released Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by a lower-than-expected 92,000 in July. This is the lowest amount of payroll jobs since February. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, the highest since January, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Economists were expecting payroll growth of about 133,000, according to a survey conducted by MarketWatch. The jobless rate was expected to remain at 4.5%. See Economic Calendar.
Some of the weakness came from a surprising 28,000 drop in government jobs in July. Excluding the government, private sector payrolls rose 120,000.
1 comment:
Note that not only was unemployment up a shade ... but weekly hours were down a shade. So labor hours unemployment is likely to have risen more rapidly than headcount unemployment.
I have seen anecdotal support for this ... at the warehouse where I have been working this summer, the representative of the temporary employment agency said that Quarter 3 is normally the busiest time, and last year, activity was already picking up in July.
However, after being called in for the first time in just over a week, four out of the six temps called to work at our particular product line were sent back home, because one of the other product lines was closed for the day and full time workers were sent over. And then, after four and a half hours, another product line was finished for the day, and the remaining two temp workers were sent home (leaving me to cycle at noon instead of at 4pm ... and, yes, both water bottles were empty 14 miles later when I got home).
And then nothing on Friday and no call in on Monday.
And, of course, all six temporary workers involuntarily unemployed for from 2 to 4.4 days of this last week would count as 100% employed under the headline unemployment rate.
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