non farm

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JULY 2008

The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent, and nonfarm payroll employment
continued to trend down in July (-51,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment continued to fall in
construction, manufacturing, and several service-providing industries, while
health care and mining continued to add jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by
6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons (8.8 million) and the unemployment rate
(5.7 percent) rose in July. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed
persons has increased by 1.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.0
percentage point. (See table A-1.)

Over the month, the unemployment rates for adult men (5.3 percent) and whites
(5.1 percent) edged up while the rates for adult women (4.6 percent), blacks (9.7
percent), and Hispanics (7.4 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for
teenagers increased to 20.3 percent in July. The unemployment rate for Asians was
4.0 percent in July, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the labor force in July
rose by 207,000 to 2.7 million. The number has increased by 623,000 over the
past 12 months. The number of unemployed persons who had lost their last job
was about unchanged over the month at 4.4 million, but has risen by 778,000
over the year. (See table A-8.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force, at 154.6 million, was little changed in July,
and the labor force participation rate remained at 66.1 percent. Total
employment, at 145.8 million, was about the same as in June. The employ-
ment-population ratio, at 62.4 percent in July, was the same as in the
prior month but was down from its most recent high of 63.4 percent in
December 2006. (See table A-1.)

In July, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons
rose by 308,000 to 5.7 million and has risen by 1.4 million over the past 12
months. 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 they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)



- 2 -

Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
_______________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data | June-
Category |_________________|__________________________| July
| | | | | | change
| I | II | May | June | July |
| 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Civilian labor force ....| 153,661| 154,294| 154,534| 154,390| 154,603| 213
Employment ............| 146,070| 146,089| 146,046| 145,891| 145,819| -72
Unemployment ..........| 7,591| 8,204| 8,487| 8,499| 8,784| 285
Not in labor force ......| 79,146| 79,117| 78,871| 79,237| 79,261| 24
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Unemployment rates
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
All workers .............| 4.9| 5.3| 5.5| 5.5| 5.7| 0.2
Adult men .............| 4.4| 4.9| 4.9| 5.1| 5.3| .2
Adult women ...........| 4.3| 4.6| 4.8| 4.7| 4.6| -.1
Teenagers .............| 16.8| 17.4| 18.7| 18.1| 20.3| 2.2
White .................| 4.4| 4.7| 4.9| 4.9| 5.1| .2
Black or African | | | | | |
American ............| 8.8| 9.1| 9.7| 9.2| 9.7| .5
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity ...........| 6.5| 7.2| 6.9| 7.7| 7.4| -.3
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Nonfarm employment.......| 137,917|p137,716| 137,717|p137,666|p137,615| p-51
Goods-producing (1)....| 21,820| p21,568| 21,577| p21,500| p21,454| p-46
Construction ........| 7,384| p7,242| 7,246| p7,197| p7,175| p-22
Manufacturing .......| 13,690| p13,566| 13,571| p13,536| p13,501| p-35
Service-providing (1)..| 116,097|p116,147| 116,140|p116,166|p116,161| p-5
Retail trade (2)...| 15,434| p15,338| 15,332| p15,326| p15,309| p-17
Professional and | | | | | |
business services .| 18,063| p17,985| 17,982| p17,943| p17,919| p-24
Education and health | | | | | |
services ..........| 18,664| p18,817| 18,820| p18,875| p18,914| p39
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality .......| 13,660| p13,685| 13,679| p13,686| p13,687| p1
Government ..........| 22,358| p22,450| 22,453| p22,496| p22,521| p25
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Hours of work (3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ...........| 33.7| p33.7| 33.7| p33.7| p33.6| p-0.1
Manufacturing .........| 41.1| p41.0| 41.0| p41.0| p41.0| p.0
Overtime ............| 4.0| p3.9| 3.9| p3.8| p3.8| p.0
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|_____________________________________________________
| | | | | |
Total private ...........| 107.4| p107.2| 107.1| p107.0| p106.6| p-0.4
|________|________|________|________|________|________
|
| Earnings (3)
|_____________________________________________________
Average hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private .........| $17.81| p$17.95| $17.95| p$18.00| p$18.06| p$0.06
Average weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private .........| 600.80| p605.40| 604.92| p606.60| p606.82| p.22
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________

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.




- 3 -

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally at-
tached to the labor force in July, an increase of 197,000 over the past 12
months. 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 preceding the survey.
Among the marginally attached, there were 461,000 discouraged workers in July,
94,000 more than a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently look-
ing for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them.
The other 1.1 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in July 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 continued to trend down (-51,000) in July.
Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has fallen by 463,000. Over the month,
employment continued to decline in manufacturing, construction, employment ser-
vices, wholesale trade, and the information industry. Health care and mining
continued to add jobs over the month. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment fell by 35,000 in July, bringing losses over the past
12 months to 383,000. Over the month, job losses were widespread with notable de-
clines in transportation equipment (-8,000), wood products (-4,000), and textile
mills (-3,000). Machinery added 6,000 jobs over the month.

Employment in construction was down by 22,000 in July. Construction has shed
557,000 jobs since its September 2006 employment peak, with nearly three-quarters
of the decline occurring since October 2007. Nearly all of the July employment
decrease came among specialty trade contractors (-20,000), with both the residen-
tial and nonresidential components contributing to the decline.

Within professional and business services, employment services lost 34,000 jobs
in July, with nearly all of the decline in temporary help services (-29,000). Since
January 2008, employment in temporary help services has declined by 185,000. Com-
puter systems design and related services added 7,000 jobs in July.

Wholesale trade employment decreased by 17,000 over the month, with declines in
both the durable and nondurable components. Since its peak in November 2007, whole-
sale trade has lost 57,000 jobs.

Employment in the information industry declined by 13,000 in July and by 44,000
over the past 12 months. Telecommunications lost 5,000 jobs in July.

Over the month, employment in retail trade continued to trend down. Since its
peak in March 2007, retail trade has lost 211,000 jobs. Employment in motor vehi-
cle and parts dealers fell by 11,000 in July, bringing declines in that industry to
35,000 since January 2008.



- 4 -

Employment in health care continued to increase with a gain of 33,000 in July.
This industry has added 368,000 jobs over the past 12 months. In July, there were
job gains of 21,000 in ambulatory health care services and 10,000 in hospitals.

In July, employment continued to grow in mining (10,000). Mining employment has
expanded by 222,000, or 45 percent, since reaching a low in April 2003. Most of this
increase has occurred in oil and gas extraction and in support activities for this
industry.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In July, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on pri-
vate nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours, seasonally adjusted. Both the
manufacturing workweek and factory overtime were unchanged over the month at 41.0 and
3.8 hours, respectively. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on
nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.4 percent in July to 106.6 (2002=100). The manufacturing
index decreased by 0.1 percent to 91.6. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In July, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on pri-
vate nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $18.06, seasonally adjusted.
This followed gains of 6 cents in May and 5 cents in June. Average weekly earnings,
at $606.82, were about unchanged in July. 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.)