Friday’s release of the October Employment Situation Summary by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a net increase of 171,000 in non-farm payroll jobs added to the U.S. economy in October, while the unemployment rate for the month increased slightly by one-tenth of a percent to 7.9% primarily due to discouraged workers re-entering the labor force.
The August and September numbers of net increases in non-farm jobs were also revised up from +142,000 to +192,000 and from +114,000 to +148,000, respectively.
The private sector gained a total of 184,000 jobs in the month while the government sector dropped 13,000 net jobs.
October marked the 32nd consecutive month of job growth within the private sector.
At approximately 813,000, in October 2012 there was a decline of 154,000 from October 2011 in the number of discouraged workers, those who have stopped searching for employment because they do not believe there is a job opportunity available for them. The number of workers marginally attached to the labor force, those who had looked for employment over the past 12 months, but had not done so over the past four weeks, remained virtually unchanged from October 2011 at 2.4 million.
The number of long-term unemployed, those out of work for longer than 27 weeks, had little change at 5.0 million. 40.6% of persons who are unemployed fall within the long-term unemployed category.
The number of involuntarily part-time workers, those that are part time due to the economic situation forcing their hours to be cut back or their inability to find full time employment, fell by 269,000 to a total of 8.3 million.
Following is an approximate breakdown of net job growth within the major private industry sectors and the government sector for October:
• Construction: +17,000
• Financial Activities: +4,000
• Education and Health Services: +25,000
• Information: +1,000
• Leisure and Hospitality: +28,000
• Manufacturing: +13,000
• Mining and Logging: -9,000
• Other Services: +9,000
• Professional and Business Services: +51,000
• Retail: +36,400
• Transportation and Warehousing: +2,200
• Utilities: -100
• Wholesale Trade: +6,500
• Government: -13,000
Overall, the average work week in October for private sector non-farm jobs remained steady at 34.4 hours, while the manufacturing sector average work week decreased by 0.1 hours to 40.5 hours. The average hourly earnings for all private non-farm employees fell slightly by 1 cent to $23.58.
Alan Krueger, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors stated on Friday in his blog about October’s job numbers:
“While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.
“Most pressing, President Obama has proposed, and the Senate has passed, an extension of middle class tax cuts that would prevent the typical middle class family from facing a $2,200 tax increase at the beginning of next year. In addition, the President has proposed a plan that will enable responsible homeowners to refinance their mortgage and take advantage of today’s historically low interest rates. To create more jobs in particularly hard-hit sectors, President Obama continues to urge Congress to pass elements of the American Jobs Act, including further investment in infrastructure to rebuild our Nation’s ports, roads and highways, and assistance to State and local governments to prevent layoffs and to enable them to rehire hundreds of thousands of teachers.”
Source:
Krueger, Alan. “The Employment Situation in October.” whitehouse.gov. The White House. 2 November 2012. Web. 2 November 2012.
Despite the many efforts of the White House to engage Republicans in Congress into passing legislation designed to spur private sector job growth, continued GOP obstruction in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate has blocked all of these attempts, including a recent bill designed to create a veteran’s jobs corps in order to help returning veterans find work.
Concerning hurricane Sandy, the report specifically noted that the storm had no significant effect on the October numbers, stating,
“Household survey data collection was completed before the storm, and establishment survey data collection rates were within normal ranges nationally and for the affected areas.”
The “November 2012 Employment Situation Summary” will be released on Friday, December 7, 2012.
Source:
“Employment Situation Summary.” bls.gov. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2 November 2012. Web. 2 November 2012.
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