NON Farm Sept 08

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: SEPTEMBER 2008

Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 159,000 in September, and
the unemployment rate held at 6.1 percent, the Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment
continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade,
while mining and health care
continued to add jobs.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The unemployment rate (6.1 percent) was unchanged in September,
following a 0.4 percentage point rise in August. The number of
unemployed persons was little changed at 9.5 million. Over the past
12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 2.2 mil-
lion and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.4 percentage points.
(See table A-1.)

The unemployment rates for adult men (6.1 percent) and blacks (11.4
percent) rose in September. The jobless rates for teenagers (19.1 per-
cent), whites (5.4 percent), and Hispanics (7.8 percent) were essen-
tially unchanged. The unemployment rate for adult women declined to
4.9 percent, partly offsetting an increase in August. The unemploy-
ment rate for Asians in September was 3.8 percent, not seasonally ad-
justed. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In September, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for
27 weeks or more) rose by 167,000 to 2.0 million, an increase of 728,000
over the past 12 months. The long-term unemployed accounted for 21.1 per-
cent of total unemployment in September. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force (154.7 million) and the labor force parti-
cipation rate (66.0 percent) were essentially unchanged over the month.
Total employment (145.3 million) and the employment-population ratio
(62.0 percent) were little changed. Since a recent high in December
2006, the employment-population ratio has declined by 1.4 percentage
points. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons
rose by 337,000 to 6.1 million in September, an increase of 1.6 mil-
lion over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who
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.)


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Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
_______________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data | Aug.-
Category |_________________|__________________________| Sept.
| | | | | | change
| II | III | July | Aug. | Sept. |
| 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Civilian labor force ....| 154,294| 154,730| 154,603| 154,853| 154,732| -121
Employment ............| 146,089| 145,517| 145,819| 145,477| 145,255| -222
Unemployment ..........| 8,204| 9,213| 8,784| 9,376| 9,477| 101
Not in labor force ......| 79,117| 79,381| 79,261| 79,253| 79,628| 375
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Unemployment rates
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
All workers .............| 5.3| 6.0| 5.7| 6.1| 6.1| 0.0
Adult men .............| 4.9| 5.7| 5.3| 5.6| 6.1| .5
Adult women ...........| 4.6| 4.9| 4.6| 5.3| 4.9| -.4
Teenagers .............| 17.4| 19.5| 20.3| 18.9| 19.1| .2
White .................| 4.7| 5.3| 5.1| 5.4| 5.4| .0
Black or African | | | | | |
American ............| 9.1| 10.6| 9.7| 10.6| 11.4| .8
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity ...........| 7.2| 7.7| 7.4| 8.0| 7.8| -.2
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Nonfarm employment.......| 137,699|p137,448| 137,550|p137,477|p137,318| p-159
Goods-producing (1)....| 21,565| p21,373| 21,437| p21,380| p21,303| p-77
Construction ........| 7,242| p7,153| 7,173| p7,160| p7,125| p-35
Manufacturing .......| 13,563| p13,433| 13,487| p13,431| p13,380| p-51
Service-providing (1)..| 116,134|p116,075| 116,113|p116,097|p116,015| p-82
Retail trade (2)...| 15,337| p15,272| 15,302| p15,277| p15,237| p-40
Professional and | | | | | |
business services .| 17,980| p17,866| 17,904| p17,861| p17,834| p-27
Education and health | | | | | |
services ..........| 18,823| p18,983| 18,935| p18,994| p19,019| p25
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality .......| 13,683| p13,643| 13,655| p13,645| p13,628| p-17
Government ..........| 22,439| p22,526| 22,502| p22,533| p22,542| p9
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Hours of work (3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ...........| 33.7| p33.7| 33.7| p33.7| p33.6| p-0.1
Manufacturing .........| 41.0| p40.9| 41.0| p40.9| p40.7| p-.2
Overtime ............| 3.9| p3.7| 3.8| p3.7| p3.6| p-.1
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ...........| 107.2| p106.7| 106.9| p106.8| p106.3| p-0.5
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Earnings (3)
|_____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private .........| $17.95| p$18.12| $18.06| p$18.14| p$18.17| p$0.03
Average weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private .........| 605.40| p610.15| 608.62| p611.32| p610.51| p-.81
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________

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.


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The number of multiple jobholders fell by 398,000 in September to
7.7 million; multiple jobholders made up 5.3 percent of all employed
persons. (See table A-6.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally
attached to the labor force in September, 336,000 more than 12 months
earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had
looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They are not count-
ed as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks
preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 467,000
discouraged workers in September; the number of discouraged workers has
increased by 191,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are per-
sons not currently looking for work specifically because they believe
no jobs are available for them. The other 1.1 million persons margin-
ally attached to the labor force in September had not searched for work
in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school atten-
dance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 159,000 in September.
Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has fallen by 760,000. Over the
month, employment continued to decline in manufacturing, construction,
and retail trade. Health care and mining continued to add jobs in
September. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment fell by 51,000 over the month, bringing
the decline in factory jobs to 442,000 over the past 12 months. In
September, job losses continued in motor vehicles and parts (-18,000);
this industry has shed 140,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Else-
where among durable goods manufacturers, employment decreased in fab-
ricated metals (- 7,000), wood products (-5,000), and furniture and
related products (-5,000). In nondurable goods manufacturing, paper
products (-3,000) and plastics and rubber products (-4,000) lost jobs
over the month.

Construction lost 35,000 jobs over the month. Thus far this year,
all of the components of construction have experienced employment
declines; the majority of the losses have been in the residential
components.

Employment in retail trade dropped by 40,000 in September and by
250,000 over the last 12 months. Department stores lost 11,000 jobs
in September and 70,000 over the last 12 months. Employment also
continued to decline in motor vehicle and parts dealers (-10,000);
this industry has lost 48,000 jobs in the past 4 months. Gasoline
stations also lost jobs in September (-6,000).

Employment in transportation and warehousing declined by 16,000 in
September and by 57,000 since its peak 12 months earlier. Over the
month, job losses occurred in trucking (-12,000) and air transporta-
tion (-5,000).


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In September, employment in financial activities fell by 17,000,
with nearly half of the decline occurring in securities and investment
firms. The financial activities industry has lost 172,000 jobs since
its employment peak in December 2006.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend
down over the month (-27,000), largely reflecting further job cuts in
employment services. Computer systems design services and management
and technical consulting services each added 9,000 jobs in September.

Health care employment continued to increase in September with a
gain of 17,000. Job growth in the industry averaged 30,000 a month
over the prior 12 months. In September, employment also continued
to grow in mining (8,000). Mining employment has expanded by 241,000
since reaching a low in April 2003.


Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In September, the average workweek for production and nonsupervi-
sory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 33.6
hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek decreased by
0.2 hour, and factory overtime decreased by 0.1 hour. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervi-
sory workers on nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.5 percent in September to
106.3 (2002=100). The manufacturing index decreased by 1.0 percent
to 89.6. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In September, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervi-
sory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents, or 0.2 per-
cent, to $18.17, seasonally adjusted. This followed gains of 6 cents
in July and 8 cents in August. Average weekly earnings were $610.51 in
September. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased
by 3.4 percent and average weekly earnings rose by 2.8 percent. (See
tables B-3 and B-4.)


______________________________


The Employment Situation for October 2008 is scheduled to be released
on Friday, November 7, at 8:30 A.M. (EST).





---------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Hurricane Ike |
| |
| Hurricane Ike struck the east coast of Texas and portions |
| of coastal Louisiana on September 13th in the midst of the |
| establishment survey reference period. For the weather condi-|
| tions to have affected payroll employment, people would have |
| had to be off work for the entire pay period and not paid for |
| the time missed. Therefore, it is unlikely the storm had sub-|
| stantial effects on the national employment estimates. |
| |
| In the household survey, people who miss work for weather- |
| related events are counted as employed whether or not they |
| are paid for the time off. |
| |
---------------------------------------------------------------



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Preliminary Estimates of Benchmark Revisions
to the Establishment Survey

In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
is announcing its preliminary estimates of the upcoming annual bench-
mark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The
final benchmark revision will be issued on February 6, 2009, with the
publication of the January 2009 Employment Situation news release.

Each year, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey employ-
ment estimates are benchmarked to comprehensive counts of employment
for the month of March derived from state unemployment insurance tax
records that nearly all employers are required to file. For national
CES employment series, the annual benchmark revisions over the last
10 years have averaged plus or minus two-tenths of one percent at the
total nonfarm level. The preliminary estimate of the benchmark revi-
sion shows that there was an accumulated overstatement of CES employ-
ment between March 2007 and March 2008 of 21,000 (0.02 percent of total
nonfarm employment in March 2008).

Table B shows the March 2008 preliminary benchmark revisions by
major industry sector. As is typically the case, many of the individ-
ual industry series show larger percentage revisions than the total
nonfarm series, primarily because statistical sampling error is greater
at more detailed levels than at a total level.



Table B. National Current Employment Statistics March 2008 preliminary
benchmark revisions by major industry sector
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|Benchmark revision|Percent benchmark
Industry | (in thousands) | revision
---------------------------------|------------------|------------------
Total nonfarm ..................| -21,000 | (1)
Total private ................| -81,000 | -0.1
Natural resources and | |
mining ...................| 0 | .0
Construction ...............| 56,000 | .8
Manufacturing ..............| -7,000 | -.1
Trade, transportation, | |
and utilities ............| 85,000 | .3
Information ................| 16,000 | .5
Financial activities .......| -20,000 | -.2
Professional and business | |
services .................| -46,000 | -.3
Education and health | |
services .................| -17,000 | -.1
Leisure and hospitality ....| -154,000 | -1.2
Other services .............| 6,000 | .1
Government ...................| 60,000 | .3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Less than 0.05 percent.