August 2002 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.

Both payroll employment and the unemployment rate were little changed in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job gains in services, government, and construction were largely offset by losses in manufacturing and retail trade.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the unemployment rate, 5.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, 8.1 million, were little changed over the month. The jobless rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.2 percent), adult women (4.9 percent), teenagers (17.2 percent), whites (5.1 percent), blacks (9.6 percent), and Hispanics (7.5 percent)--showed little or no change. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

The number of persons unemployed 15 weeks or more was 2.8 million in August, down from the recent high of 3.1 million in June. (See table A-6.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment rose by 429,000 to 134.5 million in August, after seasonal adjustment. The employment-population ratio was up by 0.2 percentage point to 62.8 percent. The civilian labor force (142.6 million) and the labor force participation rate (66.6 percent) were essentially unchanged over the month. (See table A-1.)

About 6.8 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) held more than one job in August. These multiple jobholders represented 5.0 percent of the total employed. (See table A-10.)

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 August, essentially the same as a year earlier. These individuals reported that they wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they had not actively searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers was 372,000 in August. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. (See table A-10.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (+39,000) in August at 130.8 million. Since its recent low in April, payroll employment has edged up by 162,000. (See table B-1.)

The services industry added 100,000 jobs in August. Employment in this industry has risen by 411,000 since February. Employment in health services rose by 26,000 in August, in line with the average monthly increase over the prior 12 months. The help supply industry, which provides workers to other businesses, added 51,000 jobs over the month, following a decline of 30,000 in July. Since its recent low point in February of this year, employment in help supply services has risen by 165,000.

Government employment rose by 41,000 over the month. The federal government added 20,000 jobs, mostly reflecting an increase in the number of federal security personnel at airports. Employment in local government grew by 34,000 in August, due largely to a gain in local education. State education employment fell by 20,000, after increasing by the same amount in July.

Employment in construction increased by 34,000 in August. Despite this one-month increase, the level of construction employment in August was essentially the same as in April.

Manufacturing employment declined by 68,000 in August; this compares with losses in the prior 4 months that averaged 18,000. In August, job losses were widespread, including substantial declines in electronic and other electrical equipment (-18,000) and industrial machinery and equipment (-13,000). After remaining fairly steady from January through July, employment in fabricated metal products decreased by 10,000 in August. Rubber and plastics manufacturing lost 7,000 jobs, offsetting the previous month’s increase.

Retail trade, which had shown little change on balance since February, lost 55,000 jobs in August. A decline in department store employment (-41,000) accounted for most of the drop.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour in August to 34.1 hours, seasonally adjusted. This follows a decline of 0.3 hour in July. The manufacturing workweek also was up by 0.1 hour over the month to 40.8 hours.

Manufacturing overtime rose by 0.2 hour to 4.2 hours. Both measures had declined in July. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.3 percent in August to 147.9 (1982=100). The manufacturing index was down by 0.2 percent over the month. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 4 cents in August to $14.82, seasonally adjusted. Average weekly earnings increased by 0.6 percent over the month to $505.36. Over the year, both average hourly earnings and average weekly earnings grew by 3.1 percent. (See table B-3.)