The latest employment numbers are out from the BLS. There's not much in terms of surprises. Layoffs continue, though at a slowed pace, pretty much across the board. Gains in employment are only showing where the economy is heavily influenced by government spending, e.g., the healthcare industry has gained over 500,000 jobs since the start of the recession.
Outside of government sectors, as Austrian business cycle would predict, the retail sector is showing the least amount of decline, as consumers re-establish non-Fed manipulated consumption/savings ratios.
Once the second dip of the recession kicks in, the downside in the unemployment numbers should intensify.
Specifically, nonfarm payroll employment declined in August by 216,000, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent.
In August, the number of unemployed persons increased by 466,000 to 14.9million, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 9.7percent. The rate had been little changed in June and July, after in-creasing 0.4 or 0.5 percentage point in each month from December 2008through May. Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 7.4 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 4.8 percentage points.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men(10.1 percent), whites (8.9 percent), and Hispanics (13.0 percent) rose in August. The jobless rates for adult women (7.6 percent), teenagers(25.5 percent), and blacks (15.1 percent) were little changed over the month.
In August, construction employment declined by 65,000. Manufacturing employment continued to trend downward, with a decline of 63,000. Motor vehicles and parts lost 15,000 jobs in August, partly offsetting a 31,000 employment increase in July.
Financial activities shed 28,000 jobs in August, with declines spread throughout the industry. . Employment in the industry has declined by 537,000 since the start of the recession.
Employment in the retail trade industry was little changed in August.Employment also was little changed in professional and business services over the month.
Employment in health care continued to rise in August (28,000), with gains in ambulatory care and in nursing and residential care. Employment in hospitals was little changed in August; job growth in the industry slowed in early 2009 and employment has been flat since May. Health care has added 544,000 jobs since the start of the recession.
The press is pulling the same shenanigans with the monthly jobless figures as they are on the weekly claims. Last month we had "lower than expected" job losses of 247K. Now, those numbers are revised upwards to 276K. Now we have "lower than expected" claims again of 216K. If the final number is 245K, will that be lower than expected?
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