Employment fell by 54,000 in August as the unemployment rate edged up to 9.6%
August Employment and Unemployment: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released a report today on employment and unemployment for August (pdf summary available). Highlights of the report:
Unemployment Rate
- The unemployment rate edged up to 9.6% in August, from 9.5% in July.
- The unemployment rate was 5.0% at the start of the recession in December, 2007.
- The percentage of long-term unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or longer) declined by 323,000 to 6.2 million, or a level of 42.0% in August.
- The size of the labor force grew by 550,000 in August, but remains 650,000 below its peak level in May, 2009.
- There were 14.9 million unemployed persons in August.
Payroll Employment
- Total non-farm payroll employment fell by 54,000 in August, following a loss of 54,000 in July (revised from a loss of 131,000) and a loss of 175,000 in June (revised from a loss of 221,000).
- The loss of temporary Census jobs accounted for 114,000 of the net decline in jobs.
- Private sector employment rose by 67,000 in August. Healthcare (+28,000) and temporary help services (+17,000) accounted for the largest private sector job gains while manufacturing (-27,000) accounted for the largest private sector loss.
- The average workweek was unchanged at 34.2 hours for all private nonfarm employees.
- Employment has fallen by 7.6 million since the start of the recession in December, 2007.