The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has published the Employment Situation report for September. According to the report, in August, the labor force participation rate stayed steady at 62.3%, while the employment-population ratio remained at 59.6%.
Health care added 31,000 jobs, below the average monthly gain of 42,000 over the prior 12 months.
Employment continued to trend up over the month in ambulatory health care services (+13,000), nursing and residential care facilities (+9,000), and hospitals (+9,000).
Employment in social assistance continued to trend up in August (+16,000), reflecting continued job growth in individual and family services (+16,000).
Total nonfarm payroll employment changed little in August (+22,000) and has remained relatively stable since April.
Over the month, a job gain in health care was partially offset by losses in the federal government, as well as in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction.
Federal government employment continued to decline in August (-15,000) and is down by 97,000 since reaching a peak in January.
Both the unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.4 million, changed little in August.
The labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.3 percent, and the employment-population ratio remained at 59.6 percent.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates were as follows:
- Adult men (4.1%)
- Adult women (3.8%)
- Teenagers (13.9%)
- Whites (3.7%)
- Blacks (7.5%)
- Asians (3.6%)
- Hispanics (5.3%)
Among the unemployed, the number of new entrants decreased by 199,000 in August to 786,000. New entrants are unemployed individuals seeking their first job.
In August, the long-term unemployed accounted for 25.7% of all jobless individuals. The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job, at 6.4 million, remained unchanged in August but increased by 722,000 over the year.
These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively seeking work during the four weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to accept a job.
Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force remained relatively stable at 1.8 million in August.
These individuals were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months, but had not actively sought work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, also changed little over the month at 514,000.
- In August, employment in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction declined by 6,000, after remaining relatively unchanged over the prior 12 months.
- Manufacturing employment changed little in August (-12,000) but is down by 78,000 over the year.
- Employment in transportation equipment manufacturing declined by 15,000 over the month, in part due to strike activity.
Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including construction, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down by 27,000, from +14,000 to $13,000, and the change for July was revised up by $ 6,000, from $73,000 to $79,000.
With these revisions, the combined employment in June and July is 21,000 lower than previously reported.