EconoIndicators / Employment Situation Report

Employment Situation At a Glance

Total Employment: 146,211
Nonfarm Payroll Employment: 138,495 million
Monthly Change: Up 18,000
Previous Month Revision: Added 10,000 Jobs
Unemployed Persons: 7.655 million
Unemployment Rate: 5%
Change: Up 0.3%

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THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: DECEMBER 2007

The unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent in December, while nonfarm payroll
employment was essentially unchanged (+18,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job growth in several service-pro-
viding industries, including professional and technical services, health care, and
food services, was largely offset by job losses in construction and manufacturing.
Average hourly earnings rose by 7 cents, or 0.4 percent.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons increased by 474,000 to 7.7 million in
December and the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 5.0 percent.
A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 6.8 million, and the
jobless rate was 4.4 percent. (See table A-1.)

In December, unemployment rates rose for several major worker groups–adult
men (to 4.4 percent), adult women (4.4 percent), whites (4.4 percent), and
Hispanics (6.3 percent). The unemployment rates for teenagers (17.1 percent)
and blacks (9.0 percent) were little changed. The unemployment rate for Asians
was 3.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Most major worker groups experienced
increases in their jobless rates over the year. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Both total employment, at 146.2 million, and the employment-population ratio,
at 62.7 percent, decreased in December following increases in November. Total
employment was essentially unchanged over the year, while the employment-
population ratio declined by 0.7 percentage point over the same period. The
civilian labor force was essentially unchanged in December at 153.9 million.
The labor force participation rate, at 66.0 percent, was unchanged over the
month, but was 0.4 percentage point lower than a year earlier. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons, at 4.7 million
in December, was little changed over the month but was up by 456,000 over the year.
This category includes persons who indicated that they would like to work full
time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because
they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)

—————————————————————————-
| |
| Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data |
| |
| Seasonally adjusted household survey data have been revised using updated|
|seasonal adjustment factors. Seasonally adjusted estimates back to January |
|2003 were subject to revision. The unemployment rates for January-November |
|2007 (as originally published and as revised) appear on page 5, along with |
|additional information about the revisions. |
| |
—————————————————————————-

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Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
_______________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data | Nov.-
Category |_________________|__________________________| Dec.
| | | | | | change
| III | IV | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
| 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007 | 2007 |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Civilian labor force ….| 153,191| 153,667| 153,306| 153,828| 153,866| 38
Employment …………| 146,019| 146,291| 146,016| 146,647| 146,211| -436
Unemployment ……….| 7,172| 7,375| 7,291| 7,181| 7,655| 474
Not in labor force ……| 79,019| 79,270| 79,409| 79,111| 79,290| 179
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Unemployment rates
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
All workers ………….| 4.7| 4.8| 4.8| 4.7| 5.0| 0.3
Adult men ………….| 4.2| 4.3| 4.3| 4.1| 4.4| .3
Adult women ………..| 4.1| 4.2| 4.1| 4.1| 4.4| .3
Teenagers ………….| 15.8| 16.4| 15.7| 16.4| 17.1| .7
White ……………..| 4.2| 4.3| 4.2| 4.2| 4.4| .2
Black or African | | | | | |
American …………| 8.0| 8.6| 8.5| 8.4| 9.0| .6
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity ………..| 5.7| 5.9| 5.6| 5.7| 6.3| .6
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Nonfarm employment…….| 138,143|p138,445| 138,362|p138,477|p138,495| p18
Goods-producing (1)….| 22,360| p22,211| 22,266| p22,221| p22,146| p-75
Construction ……..| 7,621| p7,534| 7,575| p7,538| p7,489| p-49
Manufacturing …….| 14,011| p13,944| 13,963| p13,950| p13,919| p-31
Service-providing (1)..| 115,783|p116,234| 116,096|p116,256|p116,349| p93
Retail trade (2)…| 15,386| p15,376| 15,363| p15,395| p15,370| p-24
Professional and | | | | | |
business services .| 17,936| p18,064| 18,024| p18,063| p18,106| p43
Education and health | | | | | |
services ……….| 18,470| p18,588| 18,554| p18,583| p18,627| p44
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality …….| 13,595| p13,708| 13,677| p13,712| p13,734| p22
Government ……….| 22,254| p22,358| 22,329| p22,357| p22,388| p31
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Hours of work (3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ………..| 33.8| p33.8| 33.8| p33.8| p33.8| p0.0
Manufacturing ………| 41.3| p41.2| 41.2| p41.3| p41.1| p-.2
Overtime …………| 4.1| p4.0| 4.1| p4.1| p3.9| p-.2
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ………..| 107.7| p108.0| 107.9| p108.0| p108.0| p0.0
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Earnings (3)
|_____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private ………| $17.50| p$17.64| $17.57| p$17.64| p$17.71| p$0.07
Average weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private ………| 591.39| p596.23| 593.87| p596.23| p598.60| p2.37
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________

1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2 Quarterly averages and the over-the-month change are calculated using
unrounded data.
3 Data relate to private production and nonsupervisory workers.
p = preliminary.
NOTE: Seasonally adjusted household data have been revised. See note on
page 5.

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Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.3 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached
to the labor force in December. These individuals wanted and were available to
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. Among the marginally attached, there were 363,000
discouraged workers in December, up from 274,000 a year earlier. Discouraged
workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed
no jobs were available for them. The other 981,000 persons marginally attached
to the labor force in December had not searched for work in the 4 weeks
preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family
responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged at 138.5 million
in December following gains of 159,000 in October and 115,000 in November. In
2007, payroll employment rose by 1.3 million compared with a gain of 2.3 million
in 2006. In December, job growth continued in professional and technical
services, health care, and food services, while employment in construction and
manufacturing continued to decline. The retail trade and information industries
also lost jobs over the month. (See table B-1.)

Employment in professional and technical services was up by 33,000 in December
and by 322,000 over the year. Within this industry grouping, employment continued
to trend up in December in architectural and engineering services (8,000) and in
management and technical consulting services (12,000). Within administrative and
support services, services to buildings and dwellings added 19,000 jobs.

In the health care industry, job growth continued in December with a gain of
28,000. The industry has added 381,000 jobs over the year. In December, job
gains occurred in hospitals (10,000) and ambulatory health care services
(13,000). Employment in food services continued to expand over the month with a
gain of 27,000. Over the year, the food services industry has added 304,000
jobs. The gains in health care and food services combined accounted for about
two-thirds of all private sector job growth in 2007.

Mining employment rose by 5,000 in December following a gain of 4,000 in
November. In 2007, the industry has added 36,000 jobs.

In December, employment in construction fell by 49,000, with losses occurring
throughout the industry. Since its peak in September 2006, construction employ-
ment has fallen by 236,000, with the residential components accounting for the
decline.

Within financial activities, credit intermediation lost 7,000 jobs in December,
bringing the total job loss since the industry’s peak in February 2007 to 79,000.

Manufacturing employment continued to decline in December (-31,000), with
generally small but widespread losses among the component industries. Notable
declines occurred in motor vehicles and parts (-6,000), wood products (-4,000),
electrical equipment and appliances (-3,000), and textile mills (-2,000).
Factory employment has declined by 212,000 over the past year.

Retail trade employment was down by 24,000 in December following an increase
in the prior month. Over the year, employment in retail trade was essentially
flat.

In December, employment in the information industry fell by 13,000; losses
occurred in motion picture and sound recording industries (-12,000) and in
broadcasting, except Internet (-4,000). Information employment was essentially
unchanged over the year.

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Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In December, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers
on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours, seasonally adjusted. The
manufacturing workweek fell by 0.2 hour to 41.1 hours, and factory overtime also
fell by 0.2 hour to 3.9 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers
on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in December at 108.0 (2002=100). The
manufacturing index decreased by 0.7 percent to 94.5. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents, or 0.4 percent, in December to $17.71, sea-
sonally adjusted. This followed a 7-cent gain in November. Average weekly
earnings also grew by 0.4 percent in December to $598.60. Over the year, aver-
age hourly earnings rose by 3.7 percent, and weekly earnings rose by 3.4 percent.
(See table B-3.)