October 2008 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 fell by 240,000 in October, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. October's drop in payroll employment followed declines of 127,000 in August and 284,000 in September, as revised. Employment has fallen by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred in the past 3 months. In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construc- tion, and several service-providing industries. Health care and mining continued to add jobs.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 6.5 percent in October, and the number of unemployed persons increased by 603,000 to 10.1 million. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 2.8 mil- lion, and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.7 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

The unemployment rates for adult men (6.3 percent), adult women (5.3 percent), whites (5.9 percent), and Hispanics (8.8 percent) rose in October. The jobless rates for teenagers (20.6 percent) and blacks (11.1 percent) were little changed. The unemployment rate for Asians in October was 3.8 percent, not seasonally ad- justed. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of persons who lost their job and did not ex- pect to be recalled to work rose by 615,000 to 4.4 million in October. Over the past 12 months, the size of this group has increased by 1.7 million. (See table A-8.)

In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose by 249,000 to 2.3 million. The long-term unemployed accounted for 22.3 percent of total unemployment. The newly unemployed--those who were jobless fewer than 5 weeks--increased by 212,000 to 3.1 million in October. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force participation rate (66.1 percent) and the employment- population ratio (61.8 percent) were little changed in October. Since a recent high in December 2006, the employment-population ratio has declined by 1.6 per- centage points. (See table A-1.)

In October, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose by 645,000 to 6.7 million. The number of such workers increased by 2.3 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were un- able to find full-time jobs. (See table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in October, 273,000 more than 12 months earlier. These indi- viduals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They are not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally at- tached, there were 484,000 discouraged workers in October; the number of dis- couraged workers was 164,000 higher than a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work specifically because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.2 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in October had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the sur- vey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 240,000 in October, bringing job losses thus far in 2008 to 1.2 million. Over the month, employment declines continued in manufacturing, construction, and several service-providing industries, while health care and mining again added jobs. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment declined by 90,000 over the month. Some 27,000 aero- space workers in the transportation equipment industry were off payrolls in October due to a strike; taking the strike into account, factory job losses in October were about in line with the prior 2 months. Within durable goods manufacturing, employ- ment declined in fabricated metal products (-11,000), furniture and related products (-10,000), motor vehicles and parts (-9,000), wood products (-7,000), and computer and electronic products (-4,000). In the nondurable goods component, job losses occurred in plastics and rubber products (-6,000), apparel (-4,000), and printing and related support activities (-4,000).

Construction employment fell by 49,000 in October, with declines throughout the industry. Since peaking in September 2006, construction employment has fallen by 663,000, largely in the residential components.

Within professional and business services, the employment services industry shed 51,000 jobs in October. The pace of job loss in this industry has picked up in 2008, averaging 37,000 per month through October; in 2007, monthly job losses averaged 11,000 in employment services.

Retail trade employment fell by 38,000 in October, with the largest losses occur- ring among automobile dealers (-20,000) and department stores (-18,000). Wholesale trade employment was down by 22,000 over the month, with most of the decrease among durable goods wholesalers.

Employment in financial activities declined by 24,000 in October and is down by 200,000 since its peak in December 2006. Over the month, employment contracted in both credit intermediation and related activities (-12,000) and in securities and investment firms (-6,000).

Health care employment continued to expand in October, with an increase of 26,000. Over the past 12 months, health care employment has grown by 348,000. The mining industry added 7,000 jobs in October. Since a low in April 2003, min- ing employment has grown by 246,000.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In October, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.6 hours. The manufacturing workweek and factory overtime also were unchanged over the month at 40.6 and 3.6 hours, respectively. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.3 percent in October. The manufacturing in- dex fell by 1.0 percent. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In October, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $18.21, seasonally adjusted. Average weekly earnings were $611.86. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 3.5 percent and average weekly earnings rose by 2.9 percent. (See tables B-3 and B-4.)