Employment rises 108,000 in Dec

[papau]

Friday, January 6, 2006.


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: DECEMBER 2005

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 108,000 in December, and
the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The December in-
crease in payroll employment followed a gain of 305,000 in November (as re-
vised). Several industries added jobs over the month, including food serv-
ices, professional and business services, health care, and manufacturing.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the unemployment rate, 4.9 percent, and the number of unemployed per-
sons, 7.4 million, were little changed in December. The unemployment rate
has ranged from 4.9 to 5.1 percent since March.

The unemployment rates for adult men (4.3 percent), adult women (4.5 per-
cent), whites (4.3 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.0 percent) showed
little or no change in December. The jobless rates for teenagers (15.2 per-
cent) and blacks (9.3 percent) declined over the month; the rate for black
teenagers had an unusual large decline and fell to 24.4 percent. The unem-
ployment rate for Asians was 3.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See
tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In December, 18.2 percent of the unemployed had been without a job for 27
weeks or longer, compared with 20.4 percent a year earlier. (See table A-9.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data |
| |
| Seasonally adjusted household survey data have been revised using |
| updated seasonal adjustment factors that incorporate 2005 data. Sea- |
| sonally adjusted estimates back to January 2001 were subject to re- |
| vision. The unemployment rates for January-December 2005 (as origin- |
| ally published and as revised) appear on page 6, along with additional |
| information about the revisions. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

- 2 -

Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________________
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data |
|_________________|__________________________| Nov.-
Category | 2005 | 2005 | Dec.
|_________________|__________________________|change
| III | IV | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|____________________________________________________
Civilian labor force.....| 149,827| 150,126| 150,043| 150,183| 150,153| -30
Employment.............| 142,324| 142,671| 142,625| 142,611| 142,779| 168
Unemployment...........| 7,503| 7,455| 7,418| 7,572| 7,375| -197
Not in labor force.......| 76,595| 77,070| 76,916| 77,021| 77,271| 250
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Unemployment rates
|____________________________________________________
All workers..............| 5.0| 5.0| 4.9| 5.0| 4.9| -0.1
Adult men..............| 4.4| 4.3| 4.3| 4.3| 4.3| .0
Adult women............| 4.6| 4.5| 4.6| 4.6| 4.5| -.1
Teenagers..............| 16.1| 16.1| 15.9| 17.1| 15.2| -1.9
White..................| 4.3| 4.3| 4.4| 4.2| 4.3| .1
Black or African | | | | | |
American.............| 9.5| 9.7| 9.1| 10.6| 9.3| -1.3
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity............| 6.0| 6.0| 5.9| 6.1| 6.0| -.1
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|____________________________________________________
Nonfarm employment.......| 133,969|p134,294| 134,055|p134,360|p134,468| p108
Goods-producing(1).....| 22,152| p22,236| 22,197| p22,250| p22,262| p12
Construction.........| 7,262| p7,324| 7,299| p7,341| p7,332| p-9
Manufacturing........| 14,258| p14,268| 14,257| p14,265| p14,283| p18
Service-providing(1)...| 111,817|p112,058| 111,858|p112,110|p112,206| p96
Retail trade(2)......| 15,221| p15,181| 15,178| p15,190| p15,175| p-16
Professional and | | | | | |
business services..| 16,995| p17,113| 17,051| p17,127| p17,160| p33
Education and health | | | | | |
services...........| 17,417| p17,476| 17,443| p17,480| p17,505| p25
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality........| 12,798| p12,798| 12,755| p12,808| p12,831| p23
Government.......... | 21,841| p21,871| 21,850| p21,874| p21,888| p14
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Hours of work(3)
|____________________________________________________
Total private............| 33.7| p33.8| 33.8| p33.8| p33.7| p-0.1
Manufacturing..........| 40.6| p40.8| 41.0| p40.8| p40.7| p-.1
Overtime.............| 4.5| p4.5| 4.6| p4.5| p4.5| p.0
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|____________________________________________________
Total private............| 103.0| p103.4| 103.3| p103.6| p103.4| p-0.2
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Earnings(3)
|____________________________________________________
Avg. hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private..........| $16.17| p$16.30| $16.28| p$16.29| p$16.34| p$0.05
Avg. weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private..........| 545.36| p550.51| 550.26| p550.60| p550.66| p.06
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______

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 or nonsupervisory workers.
p = preliminary.
NOTE: Seasonally adjusted household data have been revised. See note on
page 6.

- 3 -

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment, at 142.8 million in December, was little changed over
the month but was 2.6 million higher than a year earlier. The employment-
population ratio held at 62.8 percent in December, 0.4 percentage point high-
er than a year earlier. The labor force participation rate, at 66.0 percent,
was unchanged over the year. (See table A-1.)

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. So we lost another 50k jobs?

[hatrack]

2. And what does it have to be just to keep up with population growth?

150,000? 160,000?

:eyes:

And I'd be willing to bet that analysts were "surprised".

[stepnw1f]

3. What Utter Bullshit We Have Here

Population?

[catmandu57]

4. So has * created a net employment yet?

I think that these incomps haven't ever dug out of the hole yet, we're still in negative job growth.

[Doctor_J]

18. No, he's still far in the red

he hasn't quite erased Big Dog's jobs, but there's still time...

[M155Y_A1CH]

5. Extra Xmas help

My sister just got laid-off Jan 1, from one of these "new" jobs.
Retail stores hire temporary employees for the holidays.

[MissMillie]

6. Will it drop again in January?

After all, how many of these jobs were in retail sales for the holiday season?

[wellst0nev0ter]

7. Per Usual, Most Of The Jobs Are "Service Providing"

I hope those people like the new peonage society.

[seeminer21]

12. To be fair...

That's not what "Service Providing Jobs" means. They're not "servants" in the sense that you're thinking (i.e. stock brokers hold "service providing jobs").

[wellst0nev0ter]

14. Yeah, Those Jobs Grew By 33,000 Last Month

Otherwise :thumbsdown:

[papau]

8. Bush wants Fed rate increases stopped - so he shifted 71,000 from

Dec to Nov, making Nov job growth 305,000.

Thus he has the low 108,000 to bring to the table to discuss with New Fed Chairman at end of month.

Besides the birth/death adjustment scheduled for Jan is always large negative:

2005 Net Birth/Death Adjustment (in thousands) Supersector Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Total
-280 100 179 257 207 184 -76 132 54 37 18 53

That pattern is unchanged, but "seasonally adjusted" rules have been changed - again.

It is hard to see the real numbers these days, as the published ones are driven by political needs.

[AngryAmish]

9. Germany had full employment under Hitler

[dweller]

10. whatever...

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-01-05T130836Z_01_N05285555_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-LAYOFFS-CHALLENGER-UPDATE-1.XML

UPDATE 1-U.S. Dec layoffs rise by 8.6 percent - survey
NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Planned U.S. layoffs rose by 8.6 percent in December, pushing the 2005 annual total of job cuts 3.1 percent higher than in 2004, according to a report released on Thursday.

The increases were due in large part to big jumps in job cuts in the government, non-profit and automotive sectors, Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an employment consulting firm, said.

Total announced layoffs in the month were 107,822 jobs, compared with 99,279 planned cuts in November, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

"Unfortunately for workers in these sectors, there does not appear to be any relief in the near term," John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, said in a statement.

:shrug:

dp

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. ...

[PittPoliSci]

13. 108K temp jobs probably.

[second edition]

15. Or part time with no benefits or future. n/t

[PittPoliSci]

17. exactly.

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

16. DU members did It snow in December

where you live? I sure someone plowed it roads and shoved driveways for money, that a job :sarcasm: