Employment Situation At a Glance
- Total Employment: 146,331 million
- Nonfarm Payroll Employment: 137,818 million
- Monthly Change: Down 20,000
- Unemployed Persons: 7,626 million
- Unemployment Rate: 5.0%
- Change: Down 0.1%
Technorati Tags: employment, situation, unemployment, report
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: APRIL 2008
Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in April (-20,000), following
job losses that totaled 240,000 in the first 3 months of the year, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The unem-
ployment rate, at 5.0 percent, also was little changed in April. Employment
continued to decline in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade, while
jobs were added in health care and in professional and technical services.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
The number of unemployed persons (7.6 million) and the unemployment rate
(5.0 percent) were little changed in April. A year earlier, the number of
unemployed persons was 6.8 million, and the jobless rate was 4.5 percent.
Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups–adult
men (4.6 percent), teenagers (15.4 percent), whites (4.4 percent), blacks
(8.6 percent), and Hispanics (6.9 percent)–showed little or no change. The
jobless rate for adult women decreased to 4.3 percent in April, nearly off-
setting an increase in the prior month. The unemployment rate for Asians
was 3.2 percent (not seasonally adjusted) in April. (See tables A-1, A-2,
and A-3.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Both total employment, at 146.3 million, and the employment-population
ratio, at 62.7 percent, were little changed in April. Over the month, the
labor force participation rate held at 66.0 percent; it was the same rate a
year earlier. (See table A-1.)
In April, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons
increased by 306,000 to 5.2 million. This level was 849,000 higher than in
April 2007. These individuals indicated that they 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-5.)
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
About 1.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached
to the labor force in April. These individuals wanted 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 pre-
ceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 412,000 discouraged
workers in April, about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not
currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were avail-
able for them. The other 1.0 million persons classified as marginally attached
to the labor force in April cited reasons such as school attendance or family
responsibilities. (See table A-13.)
- 2 -
Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
_______________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data | Mar.-
Category |_________________|__________________________| Apr.
| | | | | | change
| IV | I | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. |
| 2007 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Civilian labor force ….| 153,667| 153,661| 153,374| 153,784| 153,957| 173
Employment …………| 146,291| 146,070| 145,993| 145,969| 146,331| 362
Unemployment ……….| 7,375| 7,591| 7,381| 7,815| 7,626| -189
Not in labor force ……| 79,270| 79,146| 79,436| 79,211| 79,241| 30
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Unemployment rates
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
All workers ………….| 4.8| 4.9| 4.8| 5.1| 5.0| -0.1
Adult men ………….| 4.3| 4.4| 4.3| 4.6| 4.6| .0
Adult women ………..| 4.2| 4.3| 4.2| 4.6| 4.3| -.3
Teenagers ………….| 16.4| 16.8| 16.6| 15.8| 15.4| -.4
White ……………..| 4.3| 4.4| 4.3| 4.5| 4.4| -.1
Black or African | | | | | |
American …………| 8.6| 8.8| 8.3| 9.0| 8.6| -.4
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity ………..| 5.9| 6.5| 6.2| 6.9| 6.9| .0
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Nonfarm employment…….| 138,031|p137,920| 137,919|p137,838|p137,818| p-20
Goods-producing (1)….| 22,042| p21,817| 21,816| p21,728| p21,618| p-110
Construction ……..| 7,521| p7,381| 7,382| p7,336| p7,275| p-61
Manufacturing …….| 13,788| p13,690| 13,690| p13,642| p13,596| p-46
Service-providing (1)..| 115,989|p116,103| 116,103|p116,110|p116,200| p90
Retail trade (2)…| 15,490| p15,437| 15,429| p15,410| p15,383| p-27
Professional and | | | | | |
business services .| 18,093| p18,068| 18,073| p18,029| p18,068| p39
Education and health | | | | | |
services ……….| 18,527| p18,663| 18,665| p18,708| p18,760| p52
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality …….| 13,622| p13,660| 13,660| p13,677| p13,695| p18
Government ……….| 22,291| p22,358| 22,362| p22,376| p22,385| p9
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Hours of work (3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ………..| 33.8| p33.7| 33.7| p33.8| p33.7| p-0.1
Manufacturing ………| 41.2| p41.1| 41.1| p41.2| p40.9| p-.3
Overtime …………| 4.1| p4.0| 4.0| p4.0| p3.9| p-.1
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ………..| 107.7| p107.4| 107.3| p107.6| p107.2| p-0.4
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Earnings (3)
|_____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private ………| $17.64| p$17.81| $17.81| p$17.87| p$17.88| p$0.01
Average weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private ………| 596.34| p600.80| 600.20| p604.01| p602.56| p-1.45
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
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.
Statement of
Keith Hall
Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics
before the
Joint Economic Committee
UNITED STATES CONGRESS
Friday, May 2, 2008
Madam Chair and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the April
employment and unemployment statistics we released this morning.
Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in April
(-20,000), following job losses in the first quarter that
averaged 80,000 per month. In April, employment continued to
decline in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade, while
jobs were added in health care and in professional and technical
services. The unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent, was little
changed.
Within the goods-producing sector, employment in
construction declined by 61,000. Since its peak in September
2006, construction employment has fallen by 457,000. Over the
last 6 months, job losses averaged 50,000 per month, compared
with an average loss of 12,000 per month from September 2006 to
October 2007.
Manufacturing employment continued to decline in April. Job
losses totaled 46,000 and were concentrated in durable goods
manufacturing. Manufacturing hours fell from 41.2 to 40.9 hours
over the month, with reductions widespread across both durable
and nondurable industries. Factory overtime was down by
one-tenth of an hour.
In the service-providing sector, retail trade employment
continued to trend down. Since a peak in March 2007, the
industry has shed 137,000 jobs. In April, job declines occurred
in building and garden supply stores and in department stores.
Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, health care
employment expanded by 37,000, with continued growth in
hospitals, home health care, and doctors¿ offices. Professional
and technical services added 27,000 jobs in April, following 3
months in which employment was about unchanged. Employment in
food services continued to trend up over the month, although the
pace of job growth has slowed in recent months.
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory
workers in the private sector were up by 1 cent, or 0.1 percent,
in April and by 3.4 percent over the past 12 months. From March
2007 to March 2008, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage
Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose by 4.3 percent.
Turning to data from the household survey, both the number
of unemployed persons (7.6 million) and the unemployment rate
(5.0 percent) were little changed in April. Over the past 12
months, the jobless rate has risen by 0.5 percentage point and
the number of unemployed individuals has risen by 797,000.
Although the number of unemployed persons who had been searching
for work for 27 weeks or more increased by 160,000, their share
of total unemployment changed little. Over the month, the number
of persons who were unemployed due to job loss was little
changed, at 4.0 million, but was up by 698,000 from a year
earlier. These job losers accounted for 53 percent of all
unemployed persons in April, up from 49 percent 12 months
earlier. (Other groups of unemployed persons include those
entering the labor market for the first time, those re-entering
after an absence, and those who voluntarily leave jobs.)
The number of persons in the labor force was about unchanged
over the month, and the labor force participation rate held at
66.0 percent. In April, 62.7 percent of the population was
employed, essentially unchanged from the prior month but down
from a recent peak of 63.4 percent at the end of 2006. The
number of persons working part time who prefer full-time
employment rose by 306,000 in April to 5.2 million. Over the
past 12 months, involuntary part-time employment has increased by
849,000.
To summarize April¿s labor market developments, payroll
employment was little changed at 137.8 million, as was the
unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent.
My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your
questions.
Employment Situation - April 2008 [PDF]
Source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
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