April 1999 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 in April, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment grew by 234,000. Job gains occurred throughout the service-producing sector, but losses continued in manufacturing and mining.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons, 6.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.3 percent, were about unchanged in April. The rate has been at or below 4.5 percent since April 1998. Over the month, the unemployment rates for whites and Hispanics increased to 3.8 and 6.9 percent, respectively, at or near where they had been in February. The jobless rates for the other major demographic groups--adult men (3.4 percent), adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (14.1 percent), and blacks (7.7 percent)--were little changed over the month. Over the year, the unemployment rate for blacks was down 1.3 percentage points, while the rate for whites was little changed. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force, at 139.1 million, and the labor force participation rate, at 67.1 percent, were little changed from March. Total employment, at 133.1 million, was essentially unchanged from March. In April, the employment-population ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--was 64.2 percent, also little changed from the previous month. (See table A-1.)

About 7.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job in April. These multiple jobholders represented 5.8 percent of the total employed, compared with 6.1 percent a year earlier. (See table A-10.)

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 April. 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. (See table A-10.)

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 245,000 in April, down from 344,000 a year earlier. (See table A-10.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 234,000 in April, following virtually no gain in March. The April increase was in line with the average monthly growth for the prior 12 months. Strong growth occurred in several service- producing industries, but job losses continued in manufacturing and mining. Construction employment changed little in April after seasonal adjustment, following a sharp decline in March. (See table B-1.)

The services industry added 131,000 jobs in April, somewhat above the average gain for the prior 12 months. A large employment increase occurred in business services (51,000), led by job gains in both help supply services (18,000) and computer services (16,000). Employment in health services increased by 23,000, more than twice the monthly average over the prior year. Over-the-month job gains occurred in doctors' offices, hospitals, and home health care services. Employment both in motion pictures and in amusements and recreation grew in April, after changing little in March. Job growth continued in engineering and management services, but the gain of 11,000 in April was about half the average increase for the prior 12 months.

Finance added 17,000 jobs in April after 2 months of small gains. Nondepository institutions had a large increase of 8,000, and security brokerages added 6,000 jobs after showing little net growth the prior 5 months. Employment in both insurance and real estate increased only slightly in April. In the first 4 months of this year, average monthly job growth in both industries has been below the average for 1998.

Transportation and public utilities employment rose by 22,000 in April. Transportation accounted for most of the increase (20,000); the largest gain occurred in local and interurban passenger transit (7,000). Communications employment rose by 5,000, in line with its average for the prior 12 months. Employment in public utilities continued its long-term decline, losing 3,000 jobs in April.

Retail trade employment rose by 66,000 in April. Within retail trade, employment in eating and drinking places increased by 64,000 after seasonal adjustment; this follows a loss of about the same amount in the previous month. In April, employment increased in furniture stores and in automotive dealers and service stations but declined in general merchandise stores and building materials stores.

Wholesale trade added 11,000 jobs in April, about equal to the industry's average monthly growth over the past year. Government employment was little changed in April. A loss in federal employment of 23,000 offset a gain in local government. The decline at the federal level largely reflected a temporary reduction in the number of workers preparing for the decennial census.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing employment continued to decline in April, with a loss of 29,000 jobs. Part of the loss was due to a strike of 7,000 workers in shipbuilding, which is within transportation equipment manufacturing. (Persons on strike for the entire reference pay period are not on payrolls and, thus, are not counted as employed in the establishment survey.) Aircraft industry employment declined by 6,000 in April and has fallen by 23,000 since its most recent peak last August. Job losses continued in April in industrial machinery, fabricated metals, instruments, apparel, and textiles.

Mining employment declined by 6,000 in April. Job losses in the industry have totaled 26,000 for the year thus far, compared with 35,000 for all of 1998.

After seasonal adjustment, construction employment was little changed in April, following a decline of 53,000 in March. Since October, construction employment growth has averaged 32,000 a month, slightly above the average for the prior 12-month period.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls edged up 0.1 hour in April to 34.5 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.2 hour to 41.7 hours. Factory overtime edged down 0.1 hour to 4.4 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.3 percent to 146.8 (1982=100), seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing index edged up 0.1 percent to 106.3. (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 April to $13.11, seasonally adjusted. Average weekly earnings rose by 0.5 percent over the month to $452.30, seasonally adjusted. Over the year, hourly and weekly earnings each rose by 3.2 percent. (See table B-3.)