December 2005 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.

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.)

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.)

The number of persons who work part time for economic reasons, at 4.1 mil- lion, was about unchanged in December but was down by 327,000 over the year. This category includes persons who indicated that they would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or be- cause they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The number of persons marginally attached to the labor force was 1.6 mil- lion in December, about the same as a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemploy- ed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks pre- ceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 451,000 dis- couraged workers in December, essentially the same as a year earlier. Dis- couraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million margin- ally attached persons had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Employment Status of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees (Household Survey Data)

Beginning in October, questions were added to the household survey to identify persons who evacuated from their homes, even temporarily, due to Hurricane Katrina. Data collected through these questions do not account for all evacuees; persons living outside of the scope of the survey--such as those living in hotels or shelters--are not included. The questions were asked of persons in the household survey sample throughout the country, since some evacuees relocated far from the storm-affected areas. An additional question determined whether evacuees had returned to their homes by the time of the survey.

These additional questions provided information to analyze the employment status of this subgroup of evacuees. The total number of evacuees estimated from the household survey may change from month to month as people move in and out of the scope of the survey.

Information gathered in December showed that about 1.1 million persons age 16 and over had evacuated from where they were living in August due to Hur- ricane Katrina. These evacuees either had returned to their homes or were living in other residential units covered in the survey in December. About 600,000 of the evacuees had returned to their August 2005 residences. Of all evacuees identified, 58.2 percent were in the labor force in December. The em- ploymentpopulation ratio for these evacuees was 51.0 percent. The unemploy- ment rate for persons identified as evacuees was 12.4 percent; it was much higher for evacuees who had not returned home (20.7 percent) than for those who had returned (5.6 percent). (See table B.)

(Numbers in thousands, not seasonally adjusted)

1 Represents persons in the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over who resided in households that were eligible to be selected for the Current Population Survey (CPS). These data are not representative of the total evacuee population because they do not in- clude children or people residing in shelters, hotels, places of worship, or other units outside the scope of the CPS. The total number of evac- uees estimated from the CPS may change from month to month as people move in and out of the scope of the survey and because of sampling varia- bility. NOTE: These data use population controls that have been adjusted to account for interstate moves by evacuees.

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 108,000 in December to 134.5 million, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed a gain of 305,000 in November (as revised). Over the year, payroll employment grew by 2.0 mil- lion. December's increase included gains in manufacturing, health care, food services and drinking places, and professional and business services. (See table B-1.)

In December, manufacturing employment increased by 18,000, after edging up in November. Most of December’s increase occurred in durable goods, which added 15,000 jobs. Employment rose in several of the component industries, including wood products and computer and electronic products.

Over the month, employment in construction was little changed, following strong growth in November. Over the year, the construction industry added 246,000 jobs. Employment growth in residential building and residential specialty trade contractors accounted for about two-thirds of the over-the- year gain. Mining employment continued to trend up in December. Over the year, this industry added 48,000 jobs, with most of the growth occurring in support activities for mining, particularly oil and gas.

Within the service-providing sector, employment in health care grew by 21,000 in December. Both ambulatory care services (which includes doctors' offices and outpatient clinics) and hospitals continued to add jobs in December. Employment in the health care industry expanded by 271,000 in 2005.

In leisure and hospitality, food services and drinking places added 36,000 jobs in December. Despite faltering in September and October, employment growth in the industry averaged 18,000 per month in 2005. Professional and business services employment continued to trend up in December and increased by 486,000 over the year. Financial activities also continued to add jobs over the month and posted an over-the-year gain of 188,000. Much of the over- the-year increase occurred in credit intermediation and real estate.

Retail trade employment was little changed over the month. Employment was down in general merchandise stores, as seasonal hiring was less than usual; employment in the industry has been trending down since July. Building ma- terial and garden supply stores continued to add jobs in December. Over the month, employment in the transportation and warehousing industry fell; employ- ment of couriers and messengers declined by 6,000, and air transportation con- tinued to lose jobs (-5,000).

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours in December, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek fell by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 4.5 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory work- ers on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.2 percent in December to 103.4 (2002=100). The manufacturing index was down by 0.1 percent over the month to 94.9. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on pri- vate nonfarm payrolls increased by 5 cents in December to $16.34, seasonal- ly adjusted. Average weekly earnings were little changed over the month at $550.66. Over the year, both average hourly and weekly earnings increased by 3.1 percent. (See table B-3.)

Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data

At the end of each calendar year, BLS routinely updates the seasonal ad- justment factors for the labor force series derived from the Current Popula- tion Survey (CPS), or household survey, to incorporate the data for that year. This year, seasonally adjusted data for January 2001-December 2005 were sub- ject to revision. (Seasonally adjusted establishment data will be revised next month, concurrent with the introduction of annual benchmark adjustments.)

The January 2006 issue of Employment and Earnings will contain an article describing the current seasonal adjustment methodology for the household sur- vey data and revised data for the most recent months or quarters for all regu- larly published tables containing seasonally adjusted household survey data. A copy of the article will be available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrs2006.pdf on the Internet. Historical data for the household series contained in the "A" tables of this release also can be accessed at http://www.bls.gov/cps/ cpsatabs.htm on the BLS Internet site. Revised historical seasonally adjusted monthly and quarterly data for additional series are available on the Internet at ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/.

1 Because of the use of concurrent seasonal adjustment, there is no revised estimate for December.

HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA

2004 2005 Employment status, sex, and age

Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

TOTAL

Men, 20 years and over

Women, 20 years and over

Both sexes, 16 to 19 years

1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation. NOTE: Data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.