July 2009 Labor Department Statistics

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in June (-467,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported earlier this month.

Job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction.

The number of unemployed persons (14.7 million) and the unemployment rate (9.5 percent) were little changed in June.  Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.2 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 4.6 percentage points.  In June, unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (10.0 percent), adult women (7.6 percent), teenagers (24.0 percent), whites (8.7 percent), blacks (14.7 percent), and Hispanics (12.2 percent)--showed little change. The unemployment rate for Asians was 8.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs (9.6 million) was little changed in June after increasing by an average of 615,000 per month during the first 5 months of this year.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 433,000 over the month to 4.4 million.  In June, 3 in 10 unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks or more.

The number of persons working part time for economic reasons sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in June at 9.0 million.  Since the start of the recession, the number of such workers has increased by 4.4 million.

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 2.2 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in June, 618,000 more than a year earlier.  These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the past 12 months.

They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 793,000 discouraged workers in June, up by 373,000 from a year earlier.

Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

The other 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in June had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in June (-467,000).  Job losses from April to June averaged 436,000 per month, compared with losses averaging 670,000 per month from November to March.

Since the recession began in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 6.5 million.  In June, job losses continued to be wide-spread across major industry sectors. 

Employment in manufacturing fell by 136,000 over the month and has declined by 1.9 million during the recession.  Within the durable goods industry, motor vehicles and parts (-27,000), fabricated metal products (-18,000), computer and electronic products (-16,000), and machinery (-14,000) continued to lose jobs in June.

Since the recession began, employment in motor vehicles and parts has declined by 335,000, or about one-third.

In June, employment in construction fell by 79,000, with losses spread throughout the industry.  Since the start of the recession, construction employment has fallen by 1.3 million.  Mining employment fell by 8,000 in June, about in line with the average monthly decline since its recent peak in October 2008.

Employment in the professional and business services industry declined by 118,000 in June. This industry has shed 1.5 million jobs since an employment peak in December 2007.  Within this sector, employment in temporary help services fell by 38,000 in June; this industry has lost 848,000 jobs since the start of the recession.

Retail trade employment edged down in June (-21,000); job losses in retail trade have moderated in the past 3 months.  Over the month, job losses continued in automobile dealerships (-9,000).  Employment continued to fall in wholesale trade (-16,000).

In June, financial activities employment continued to decline (-27,000).  Since the start of the recession, this industry has lost 489,000 jobs.  In June, employment declined in credit intermediation and related activities (-10,000) and in securities, commodity contracts,

and investments (-6,000).

The information industry lost 21,000 jobs over the month and 187,000 since the start of the recession.  Publishing accounted for about half of the employment decline in the information industry during the recession.

Health care employment increased by 21,000 in June.  Job gains in health care have averaged 21,000 per month thus far in 2009, down from an average of 30,000 per month during 2008.  Employment in federal government fell by 49,000 in June, largely due to the layoff of workers temporarily hired to prepare for Census 2010.

The change in total nonfarm employment for April was revised from -504,000 to -519,000, and the change for May was revised from -345,000 to -322,000.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In June, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 33.0 hours--the lowest level on record for the series, which began in 1964.  The manufacturing workweek rose by 0.1 hour to 39.5 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 2.8 hours.

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.8 percent in June.  The manufacturing index declined by 1.2 percent over the month. 

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In June, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls were unchanged at $18.53.  Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.7 percent, while weekly earnings have risen by only 0.9 percent, reflecting a decline in the average workweek.