The monthly Employment Situation report is out today and it’s not great news. The unemployment rate continued to blaze a skyward trail landing at 5.7% for the month of July–a full percentage point higher than it was just one year ago.
The Labor Department reported today that 51,000 jobs were cut from nonfarm payrolls, bringing the year-to-date total to 463,000 jobs lost.
Predictably, most of the job losses came in the construction, manufacturing, retail and temp help sectors. These sectors lost 22,000, 35,000, 17,000 and 29,000 jobs, respectively.
Due to these losses, and those from prior months, there are now 8.8 million unemployed people. The average duration of unemployment is now 17.1 weeks (19% of all those unemployed have been without work for 27 weeks or more).
Unfortunately, analysts predict there will be more losses in the coming months as employers continue to wrestle with credit issues, falling stock prices, higher energy and raw material costs and decreased sales revenue.
BRIGHT SPOTS
Believe it or not, there were a few shining little nuggets in this month’s report.
- The health care sector gained 33,000 jobs. The sector added 21,000 in ambulatory health care services and 10,000 in hospitals.
- The mining sector gained 10,000 jobs. Most of the job activity was in oil and gas extraction and support services (Read “The New Power Generation” and “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Let ‘Em Pay You” for more job leads).
- The government sector–including federal, state and local government–gained 25,000 jobs.
- The average hourly wage rose 0.3%, or 6 cents, to $18.06.
- It still pays to be a college graduate. In July, the unemployment rate for college grads was 2.4%. The unemployment rate for high school grads was 5.2%. The rate for those without a high school diploma was an abysmal 8.5%.
Related Posts
If you liked my post, feel free to subscribe to my rss feeds
Loading ...
