April 2009 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 continued to decline in April (-539,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job los- ses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector indus- tries. Overall, private-sector employment fell by 611,000.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons increased by 563,000 to 13.7 million in April, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 6.0 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 3.9 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

Unemployment rates rose in April for adult men (9.4 percent) and blacks (15.0 percent). The jobless rates for adult women (7.1 percent), teenagers (21.5 percent), whites (8.0 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) were little changed over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 6.6 percent in April, not seasonally adjusted, up from 3.2 percent a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 571,000 in April to 8.8 million. This group has more than doubled in size over the past 12 months. (See table A-8.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 498,000 to 3.7 million over the month and has risen by 2.4 mil- lion since the start of the recession in December 2007. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force participation rate rose in April to 65.8 percent, and the employment-population ratio was unchanged at 59.9 percent. The employ- ment-population ratios for adult men and women showed little or no change over the month. However, since December 2007, the men's ratio was down by 4.4 per- centage points, while the women's ratio was down by 1.3 percentage points. (See table A-1.)

In April, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially un- changed at 8.9 million; however, the number of such workers has risen by 3.7 million over the past 12 months. (See table A-5.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 2.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in April, 675,000 more than a year earlier. These indivi- duals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 740,000 discouraged workers in April, up by 328,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.4 million per- sons marginally attached to the labor force in April had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 539,000 in April to 132.4 million; pri- vate-sector employment declined by 611,000. Since the recession began in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 5.7 million. In April, job los- ses continued in most major private-sector industries. Employment rose in the federal government mainly due to hiring of temporary workers for Census 2010. (See table B-1.)

Employment in manufacturing fell by 149,000 over the month, with widespread job losses among the component industries. Three durable goods industries-- transportation equipment (-34,000), fabricated metal products (-29,000), and machinery (-22,000)--accounted for more than half of the decline. Since September 2008, manufacturing has lost 1.2 million jobs.

Construction employment declined by 110,000 in April, with losses spread throughout the sector. Over the past 6 months, job losses have averaged 120,000 per month, compared with 46,000 per month from December 2007 through October 2008.

The professional and business services industry lost 122,000 jobs in April. This industry has shed an average of 139,000 jobs per month since October 2008. Half of the April decline occurred in temporary help services.

Employment in retail trade fell by 47,000 in April. Job losses in department stores (-14,000), automobile dealers (-9,000), and building material and garden supply stores (-8,000) accounted for most of the decline. Wholesale trade em- ployment was down by 41,000 over the month, with much of the decrease among dur- able goods wholesalers.

Employment in transportation and warehousing declined by 38,000 in April, with losses concentrated in truck transportation (-16,000) and warehousing and storage (-8,000). Employment in financial activities declined by 40,000 over the month. Job losses occurred throughout the sector, including real estate and rental and leasing (-15,000) and credit intermediation and related activities (-14,000). The leisure and hospitality industry lost 44,000 jobs in April.

Health care employment grew by 17,000 in April. Job gains in health care have averaged 17,000 per month thus far in 2009, down from an average of 30,000 per month during 2008. Employment in federal government rose by 66,000 over the month largely due to the hiring of temporary workers for Census 2010 preparatory work.

The change in total nonfarm employment for February was revised from -651,000 to -681,000, and the change for March was revised from -663,000 to -699,000. Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recal- culation of seasonal factors.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In April, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.2 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.2 hour to 39.6 hours, and factory overtime rose by 0.1 hour to 2.7 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.6 percent in April. The manufacturing in- dex declined by 0.9 percent over the month. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

In April, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was essentially unchanged. This followed a gain of 4 cents in March. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 3.2 percent, and average weekly earnings rose by 1.3 percent. (See table B-3.)