In another possible sign that the troubled economy is finally turning around, the latest jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) revealed that the unemployment rate in the United States declined from 9.4 percent to 9.0 percent and the number of unemployed persons fell by approximately 600,000 to 13.9 million people in January 2011.
According to a Statement on the Employment Situation from the Commissioner of the DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nonfarm payroll employment added 36,000 jobs, and has increased by one million jobs since February 2010.
While employment in most major industries changed little in January, ‘THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — JANUARY 2011’ revealed that there were some gains in the following areas:
- Manufacturing added 49,000 jobs over the month and has increased by 161,000 jobs since a recent low point in December 2009. Employment increased in motor vehicles and parts (+20,000 jobs), fabricated metal products (+13,000 jobs), machinery (+10,000 jobs), and computer and electronic products (+5,000) in January.
- Retail trade added 28,000 jobs over the month, including an increase in clothing stores (+15,000 jobs). Employment in retail trade has increased by 123,000 jobs since a recent low point in December 2009.
- Health care added 11,000 jobs over the month and has added an average of 22,000 jobs per month over the past 12 months.
Employment in transportation and warehousing decreased by 38,000 jobs over the month, and construction continued to decline in January with a loss of 32,000 jobs, possibly due to severe winter weather impacting many parts of the country.
The BLS reported the unemployment rate in California as 12.5% percent in December 2010. As for the San Francisco Bay area, the BLS reported that the second largest over-the-year employment decrease in nonfarm payroll employment occurred in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California area in December 2010 with 28,600 jobs lost.
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