THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- OCTOBER 2010
**
SOME TIDBITS FIRST
"In the October breakdown, most jobs were gained in mining and a number of service-producing industries. Health care continued to add jobs, with employment rising by 24,000 last month. But the manufacturing sector, which had been the big creator of jobs at the start of the recovery, shed 7,000 jobs.
A broader measure of the unemployment rate, which includes people who stopped looking for work and those settling for part-time jobs, remained high at 17% in October compared to 17.1% in September.
In a sign of the labor market's continued weakness, Friday's report showed that 42% of unemployed Americans, or 6.2 million people, were out of work for more than six months in October. The longer someone is without a job, the harder it is to find work."
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in October, and the
unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported today. Since December 2009, nonfarm payroll
employment has risen by 874,000.
Household Survey Data
The number of unemployed persons, at 14.8 million, was little changed
in October. The unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent and has
been essentially unchanged since May. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men
(9.7 percent), adult women (8.1 percent), teenagers (27.1 percent),
whites (8.8 percent), blacks (15.7 percent), and Hispanics (12.6 per-
cent) showed little change in October. The jobless rate for Asians was
7.1 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and
over) was about unchanged over the month at 6.2 million. In October,
41.8 percent of unemployed persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or
more. (See table A-12.)
Both the civilian labor force participation rate, at 64.5 percent, and
the employment-population ratio, at 58.3 percent, edged down over the
month. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (some-
times referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell by 318,000
over the month to 9.2 million, partially offsetting large increases in
the prior 2 months. These individuals 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.)
About 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force
in October, up from 2.4 million a year earlier. (The data are not sea-
sonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, want-
ed 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 1.2 million discouraged
workers in October, an increase of 411,000 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 1.4 million persons marginally attached to
the labor force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the
survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
(See table A-16.)
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in October, re-
flecting job gains in mining and a number of service-providing indus-
tries. Private-sector payroll employment rose by 159,000 over the
month; since December 2009, employment in the private sector has risen
by 1.1 million. (See table B-1.)
Within professional and business services, employment in temporary
help services continued to increase in October, with a gain of 35,000.
Temporary help services has added 451,000 jobs since a recent low in
September 2009. Employment in computer systems design and related ser-
vices increased by 8,000 in October and has risen by 53,000 since a
recent low in June 2009.
Health care continued to add jobs in October (+24,000). The gain was
in line with the average increase over the prior 12 months (+20,000).
Retail trade employment rose by 28,000 in October, including increases
in automobile dealers (+6,000) and in electronics and appliance stores
(+5,000). After reaching a trough in December 2009, employment in re-
tail trade has expanded by 128,000.
Within leisure and hospitality, a job loss in arts, entertainment, and
recreation (-26,000) in October offset a gain in food services and
drinking places employment (+24,000). The food services industry has
added 143,000 jobs since a recent low in December 2009.
Mining employment continued to trend up (+8,000) over the month. Since
a recent low in October 2009, mining has added 88,000 jobs.
Employment in manufacturing changed little in October (-7,000) and, on
net, has essentially been flat since May. The industry had added
134,000 jobs during the first 5 months of this year.
Elsewhere in the private sector, employment in construction, wholesale
trade, transportation, information, and financial activities showed
little change in October.
Government employment overall was little changed in October. Employ-
ment in local government, excluding education, decreased by 14,000
over the month and has fallen by 123,000 over the past 12 months. The
number of temporary decennial census workers fell by 5,000 in October.
After peaking at 564,000 in May, there were only about 1,000 temporary
decennial census workers remaining on Federal payrolls in October.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls
increased by 0.1 hour in October to 34.3 hours. The manufacturing
workweek for all employees also increased by 0.1 hour, to 40.3 hours,
while factory overtime was unchanged at 3.0 hours. The average work-
week for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm
payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours in October.
(See tables B-2 and B-7.)
In October, average hourly earnings of all employees on private non-
farm payrolls increased by 5 cents to $22.73. Over the past 12 months,
average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent. Average hourly
earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees
rose by 7 cents to $19.17. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised
from -57,000 to -1,000, and the change for September was revised from
-95,000 to -41,000.
EuroZONE growth slows to a crawl
$trillions have been spent, money created out of thin air, dropped from helicopters......where has it landed and what has it done?
Only way to make this look better is if we used technical analysis to exit market during 2 Bears and re-enter during period of 2000-2010. Even missing half of the drop would have been helpful.....but you have to come back in.
Gold up $39....so are almost all commodities........raw materials skyrocketing....if end users don't see rapid price inflation manufacturers will see profits dive.
