September 1998 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.

Payroll employment rose slightly, and unemployment was virtually unchanged at 4.6 percent in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment was up by only 69,000. The number of manufacturing and construction jobs declined, and growth in the services industry was weak for the second month in a row.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons, 6.3 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.6 percent, remained essentially unchanged in September. The jobless rate has been at or below 5 percent since April 1997. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.8 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), teenagers (15.4 percent), whites (3.9 percent), blacks (9.2 percent), and Hispanics (7.4 percent) showed little movement in September. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment rose by 597,000 in September to 131.8 million, after seasonal adjustment. Over the year, employment has risen by 2.3 million, after adjusting for changes in the composite estimation procedure introduced with the January 1998 data. Over the month, the employment- population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and older with jobs--increased by 0.3 percentage point to 64.1 percent. (See table A-1.)

About 7.9 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job in September. These multiple jobholders comprised 6.0 percent of the total employed, the same as a year earlier. (See table A-10.)

The civilian labor force increased by 660,000 in September to 138.1 million (seasonally adjusted). Over the year, the labor force has grown by 1.9 million, after adjusting for the changes in the composite estimation procedure. In September, the labor force participation rate edged up to 67.1 percent. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.4 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in September, little changed over the year. 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 had not searched 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 work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them--was 317,000 in September, about the same as a year earlier. (See table A-10.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment, at 126.2 million, increased by only 69,000 in September, after seasonal adjustment. After adjusting for the direct impact of recent strikes and related shutdowns in automobile-related manufacturing (which affected about 150,000 jobs), the past 3 months show gains of about 270,000 in July, about 160,000 in August, and 69,000 in September. The September figure reflected an unusually small increase in services and declines in manufacturing and construction. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment decreased by 16,000 in September; since March, it has fallen by 152,000. All of the loss in September was in durable goods (-29,000). The largest declines occurred in electronic equipment (-7,000) and industrial machinery (-8,000); these two industries have accounted for nearly two-fifths of all factory job losses since March. In nondurable goods, employment in food and kindred products increased by 15,000 in September; weak summer hiring resulted in fewer layoffs than usual, yielding a large employment gain after seasonal adjustment. Employment in textiles also grew (3,000), although employment in the industry has been on a downward trend for many years.

Construction employment decreased by 20,000 in September, with losses occurring throughout the industry. Despite this drop, construction has added 258,000 jobs over the year. Employment in mining was unchanged for the second straight month, but the industry has lost 23,000 jobs over the last 12 months.

The services industry added only 24,000 jobs in September, well below its monthly average through August of this year (112,000). Health services employment rose by 15,000, with gains in hospitals (9,000) and doctors' offices (8,000). In contrast, home health care services continued to decline and has lost 49,000 jobs over the year. Other industries that added workers in September were amusement and recreation services (23,000) and social services (13,000). Employment also increased in computer and data processing services (10,000) and in engineering and management services (6,000). In both industries, however, the gains in both August and September were well below the average for the first 7 months of the year. The gains in various service industries were largely offset by the loss of 44,000 jobs in help supply services, where employment returned to its January level.

Finance, insurance, and real estate resumed its strong pace of job growth in September (23,000), following an unusually small increase in August. Employment in real estate increased by 9,000 in September, after decreasing by almost as much in August. Finance and insurance continued to grow, adding 8,000 and 6,000 jobs, respectively. Within finance, there were continued gains in mortgage brokerages, security brokerages, and other investment offices.

Employment in retail trade was up by 37,000 in September, following a decline in August. The largest growth occurred in eating and drinking places (27,000). Wholesale trade employment increased by 14,000 in September after only moderate growth in the prior 3 months.

Transportation and public utilities experienced only moderate growth in September (6,000) due to a strike in communications. Employment in transportation increased by 9,000, with most of this growth occurring in air transportation.

There was little change in government employment in September. Over the past 12 months, public-sector employment has risen by 309,000, with over half of the increase taking place in local education.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.2 hour in September to 34.4 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 41.7 hours. Factory overtime edged down over the month by 0.1 hour to 4.5 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.5 percent to 144.6 (1982=100), seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing index was virtually unchanged in September at 108.0. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls edged up 1 cent in September to $12.86, seasonally adjusted. For the 3 months ending in September, the increase in average hourly earnings (10 cents) was less than the increase in each of the prior four quarters (13 cents). Average weekly earnings decreased by 0.5 percent over the month to $442.38. Over the year, average hourly and weekly earnings have risen by 4.0 and 3.4 percent, respectively. (See table B-3.)