October 1997 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of payroll jobs increased by 284,000; although gains occurred in many industries, there was a particularly large increase in manufacturing.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate fell in October. The number of persons who were unemployed, at 6.5 million, was 285,000 below September’s level, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 4.7 percent. From April through September, the rate had ranged from 4.8 to 5.0 percent. In October, the unemployment rate for adult women declined from 4.4 to 4.0 percent. The rates for adult men (4.1 percent), teenagers (15.3 percent), whites (4.1 percent), blacks (9.5 percent), and Hispanics (8.0 percent) showed little or no movement over the month. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment was about unchanged in October at 129.9 million. At 63.7 percent, the proportion of the population with jobs (the employment- population ratio) has shown little movement since March. Over the past year, total employment has increased by 2.0 million (after adjusting for the effect of the revised population controls introduced into the survey in January). (See table A-1.)

About 8.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job in October. These multiple jobholders comprised 6.2 percent of the total employed. (See table A-9.)

Both the civilian labor force, 136.4 million (seasonally adjusted), and the labor force participation rate, 66.9 percent, were about unchanged from September.

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.3 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in October. These were people who wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months, but were not counted as unemployed because they did not search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

The number of discouraged workers--a subset of the marginally attached who were not currently looking for jobs specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them or there were none for which they would qualify--was 302,000 in October, little changed from a year earlier. (See table A-9.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 284,000 in October to 123.0 million, after seasonal adjustment. Since December 1996, payroll employment has increased by about 239,000 a month, on average. Job gains were widespread in October and were especially large in manufacturing. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment increased by 54,000 in October. Since the recent trough in September 1996, factory employment has risen by 170,000. In October, half of the increase occurred in just two industries, industrial machinery and transportation equipment. An addition of 13,000 employees in industrial machinery was the second large gain in 3 months. The 16,000 increase in transportation equipment reversed the prior month’s decline. Growth continued in the electronic components industry, which has added 36,000 jobs so far this year. Employment gains also occurred over the month in food products (6,000), fabricated metals (4,000), furniture and fixtures (3,000), printing and publishing (3,000), and instruments (3,000).

Construction added 20,000 jobs in October, its largest increase since May. Thus far in 1997, construction employment has increased by only 136,000, compared with 235,000 during the same period in 1996.

Within the service-producing sector, employment in the services industry rose by 100,000 in October, in line with the monthly average for the past year. Strong growth continued in computer services and engineering and management services. Together, these two relatively small industries have accounted for 1 in 9 payroll jobs added in the past year. Employment in health services also continued to grow in October, with a particularly large gain in offices and clinics of medical doctors (12,000).

Employment in the transportation industry increased by 21,000 in October, with the largest gain occurring in air transportation (9,000). Communications added 10,000 jobs, primarily in telephone communications, where employment has grown by 35,000 over the past 12 months. Employment in finance rose by 18,000 in October, with gains in all the component industries except savings institutions. Security and commodity brokerages added 5,000 jobs over the month. The strong growth trend in this industry has accelerated in recent months, as 19,000 jobs have been added since June.

Wholesale trade employment rose by 22,000 in October. Retail trade gained 37,000 jobs, about in line with the pace of growth for the year. Retail employment growth so far in 1997 has lagged behind that for 1996.

Government employment was virtually unchanged over the month, the result of offsetting movements within state and local governments and a continuation of the long-term downward trend in federal employment.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in October at 34.5 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.2 hour to 42.0 hours, and factory overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to 4.8 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.2 percent to 140.9 (1982=100), seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing index rose by 0.8 percent to 109.0. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls were up 6 cents in October to $12.41, seasonally adjusted. This follows increases totaling 11 cents in the prior 2 months. Average weekly earnings rose by 0.5 percent over the month to $428.15. Over the past year, average hourly earnings have risen by 4.2 percent and average weekly earnings by 4.5 percent. (See table B-3.)