Employment Situation Summary
Technical information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 04-2053
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Establishment data: 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release
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Media contact: 691-5902 Friday, October 8, 2004.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: SEPTEMBER 2004
Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend upward in September, increasing
by 96,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the prior
3 months, payroll employment rose by 103,000 on average. In September, modest
job gains occurred in a few service-providing industries.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
The number of unemployed persons was unchanged at 8.0 million in September,
and the unemployment rate held at 5.4 percent, seasonally adjusted. The jobless
rate is down from its most recent high of 6.3 percent in June 2003; most of this
decline occurred in the second half of last year.
The jobless rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.0 percent), adult
women (4.7 percent), teenagers (16.6 percent), whites (4.7 percent), blacks (10.3
percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (7.1 percent)--showed little or no change in
September. The unemployment rate for Asians was 4.3 percent, not seasonally ad-
justed. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Total employment was about unchanged in September at 139.5 million, and the
employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over
with jobs--was little changed at 62.3 percent. Over the month, the civilian
labor force was essentially unchanged at 147.5 million. The labor force
participation rate was 65.9 percent in September and has been at or near that
level since late last year. (See table A-1.)
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| Hurricane Effects on Payroll Employment |
| |
| Four hurricanes struck the U.S. during August and September: |
| Charley in mid-August, Frances early in September, Ivan in mid- |
| September, and Jeanne late in the month. BLS made additional data |
| collection efforts for the hurricane-affected counties. Establish- |
| ment survey response rates in September were within the normal range |
| for these areas as well as for the U.S. as a whole. |
| For weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll employment,|
| people have to be off work for an entire pay period and not be paid |
| for the time missed. While some employed persons were off payrolls |
| during the survey reference period because of the hurricane effects, |
| some jobs were added as part of recovery efforts. It is not possible |
| to quantify precisely the net impact of this unusual string of severe |
| weather events on the payroll employment data for September. At the |
| national level, the severe weather appears to have held down employ- |
| ment growth, but not enough to change materially the Bureau's assess- |
| ment of the employment situation in September. |
| 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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- 2 -
Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________________
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data |
|_________________|__________________________| Aug.-
Category | 2004 | 2004 | Sept.
|_________________|__________________________|change
| II | III | July | Aug. | Sept. |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|____________________________________________________
Civilian labor force.....| 146,998| 147,681| 147,856| 147,704| 147,483| -221
Employment.............| 138,793| 139,607| 139,660| 139,681| 139,480| -201
Unemployment...........| 8,205| 8,074| 8,196| 8,022| 8,003| -19
Not in labor force.......| 75,975| 75,999| 75,565| 75,973| 76,458| 485
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Unemployment rates
|____________________________________________________
All workers..............| 5.6| 5.5| 5.5| 5.4| 5.4| 0.0
Adult men..............| 5.1| 5.0| 4.9| 5.0| 5.0| .0
Adult women............| 4.9| 4.8| 4.9| 4.7| 4.7| .0
Teenagers..............| 17.0| 17.1| 17.6| 17.0| 16.6| -.4
White..................| 5.0| 4.7| 4.8| 4.7| 4.7| .0
Black or African | | | | | |
American.............| 9.9| 10.5| 10.9| 10.4| 10.3| -.1
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity............| 7.0| 6.9| 6.8| 6.9| 7.1| .2
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|____________________________________________________
Nonfarm employment.......| 131,125|p131,460| 131,343|p131,471|p131,567| p96
Goods-producing 1/.....| 21,869| p21,912| 21,906| p21,921| p21,908| p-13
Construction.........| 6,897| p6,925| 6,916| p6,927| p6,931| p4
Manufacturing........| 14,385| p14,395| 14,398| p14,402| p14,384| p-18
Service-providing 1/...| 109,256|p109,549| 109,437|p109,550|p109,659| p109
Retail trade 2/......| 15,047| p15,032| 15,038| p15,036| p15,021| p-15
Professional and | | | | | |
business services..| 16,417| p16,511| 16,490| p16,505| p16,539| p34
Education and health | | | | | |
services...........| 16,874| p16,931| 16,901| p16,942| p16,950| p8
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality........| 12,324| p12,354| 12,344| p12,352| p12,365| p13
Government...........| 21,548| p21,606| 21,572| p21,604| p21,641| p37
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Hours of work 3/
|____________________________________________________
Total private............| 33.7| p33.8| 33.8| p33.8| p33.8| p0.0
Manufacturing..........| 40.9| p40.8| 40.8| p40.9| p40.8| p-.1
Overtime.............| 4.6| p4.6| 4.6| p4.6| p4.6| p.0
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100) 3/
|____________________________________________________
Total private............| 99.8| p100.6| 100.5| p100.6| p100.7| p0.1
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Earnings 3/
|____________________________________________________
Avg. hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private..........| $15.63| p$15.75| $15.71| p$15.75| p$15.78| p$0.03
Avg. weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private..........| 526.62| p532.24| 531.00| p532.35| p533.36| p1.01
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2 Quarterly averages and the over-the-month change are calculated based on
unrounded data.
3 Data relate to private production or nonsupervisory workers.
p=preliminary.
- 3 -
About 7.7 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job
in September. These multiple jobholders represented 5.5 percent of total em-
ployment, compared with 5.2 percent a year earlier. (See table A-13.)
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
The number of persons who were marginally attached to the labor force was
1.6 million in September, about the same as a year earlier. (Data are not
seasonally adjusted.) These individuals wanted and were available to work and
had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as
unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4
weeks preceding the survey. There were 412,000 discouraged workers in September,
little changed from a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a subset of the mar-
ginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they
believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million marginally
attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school or family respon-
sibilities. (See table A-13.)
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 96,000 in September to 131.6
million, seasonally adjusted. Payroll employment has risen by 1.8 million since
reaching a trough in August 2003, with about half of the gain (885,000) occur-
ring in March, April, and May. Since May, payroll job gains have totaled
405,000. Employment increases in September occurred in financial activities,
professional and technical services, and temporary help services. (See table
B-1.)
Within the service-providing sector, employment in financial activities
increased by 26,000 over the month and by 108,000 since the beginning of the
year. Rental and leasing added 7,000 jobs in September, following a similar-
sized increase in August. Employment in finance and insurance edged up in
September, and real estate continued to add jobs.
Employment in professional and technical services grew by 24,000 in Septem-
ber. Since August 2003, this industry has added 205,000 jobs. Temporary help
services employment was up by 33,000 in September, following 2 months of smaller
increases. Employment in management of companies and enterprises fell by 11,000
over the month, following a smaller decline in August.
Employment in health care and social assistance was little changed in Sep-
tember. Over the prior 12 months, job gains in this industry averaged 24,000
a month. Within the industry, child day care services lost 14,000 jobs in Sep-
tember. Employment in doctors' offices rose by 8,000.
The information industry continued to shed jobs in September (-12,000).
Most of the over-the-month job loss occurred in telecommunications (-9,000);
employment in this industry is down by 302,000 since its most recent peak in
March 2001.
Within the goods-producing sector, manufacturing employment edged down in
September (-18,000), with small job losses occurring throughout the durable
and nondurable goods components of the industry. Manufacturing had added
88,000 jobs in the previous 7 months, with most of the gains registered from
March through May. Construction employment was about unchanged in September
and has shown little growth since May.
- 4 -
Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in September at 33.8 hours, seasonally adjusted.
The manufacturing workweek fell by 0.1 hour to 40.8 hours, and factory overtime
was unchanged at 4.6 hours. (See table B-2.)
The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers
on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 percent in September to 100.7
(2002=100). The manufacturing index fell by 0.4 percent to 94.9. (See table
B-5.)
Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents in September to $15.78, seasonally adjusted.
Average weekly earnings increased by 0.2 percent over the month to $533.36.
Over the year, average hourly earnings increased by 2.4 percent, and average
weekly earnings grew by 3.0 percent. (See table B-3.)
______________________________
The Employment Situation for October 2004 is scheduled to be released on
Friday, November 5, at 8:30 A.M. (EST).
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| Benchmark Revisions of the Payroll Survey |
| |
| In accordance with annual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| has completed preliminary tabulations of the universe counts for the |
| first quarter of this year. The tabulations indicate that the |
| estimate of total nonfarm payroll employment will require an upward |
| revision of approximately 236,000, or two-tenths of one percent, for |
| the March 2004 reference month. The historical average for benchmark |
| revisions over the last 10 years has been plus or minus three-tenths |
| of one percent. BLS will publish data revised to the March 2004 |
| benchmark on February 4, 2005, with the release of data for January |
| 2005. |
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Last Modified Date: October 08, 2004
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