Post by kelvin on Oct 2, 2009 11:56:03 GMT -5
www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/10/02/jobs-data-september.html
More than 15 million Americans unemployed as rate rises to 9.8 per cent
Last Updated: Friday, October 2, 2009 | 10:40 AM ET
The U.S. economy shed 263,000 jobs in September, much worse that the 175,000 economists had been expecting.
The bleak data released Friday from the U.S. Labour Department's non-farm payroll employment report means the country's unemployment rate sits at 9.8 per cent, a 26-year high.
"The only reason the jobless rate didn’t rise more is that the participation rate [in the survey] sank to 23-year lows of 65.2 per cent, a sign of growing discouragement," BMO economist Sal Guatieri said in a note.
There were 706,000 of what the agency calls "discouraged workers" in September, up by 239,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The report, which measures the number of people with salaried employment across all sectors of the economy except for certain volatile industries such as agriculture, found that the largest job losses were in construction, manufacturing, retail trade and government.
In September, construction employment declined by 64,000, manufacturing fell by 51,000, retail trade fell by 39,000 and government employment was down by 53,000.
Since the start of the U.S. recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled. The 9.8 per cent rate is the highest level since 1983.
Some 35.6 per cent of those unemployed in September are what the department calls "long-term unemployed" — people who have been jobless for 27 weeks of more. The total number of such people rose 450,000 to 5.4 million during the month.
"Though the underlying trend in job losses is slowing, the September report almost cements the jobless-recovery view," Guatieri said.
The agency initially reported that 276,000 jobs were shed in July. But it revised that number to 304,000 Thursday.
August's report was also revised, from 216,000 jobs lost to 201,000 losses.
The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 33 hours. But average hourly earnings edged up by one cent US, or 0.1 per cent, to $18.67.
More than 15 million Americans unemployed as rate rises to 9.8 per cent
Last Updated: Friday, October 2, 2009 | 10:40 AM ET
The U.S. economy shed 263,000 jobs in September, much worse that the 175,000 economists had been expecting.
The bleak data released Friday from the U.S. Labour Department's non-farm payroll employment report means the country's unemployment rate sits at 9.8 per cent, a 26-year high.
"The only reason the jobless rate didn’t rise more is that the participation rate [in the survey] sank to 23-year lows of 65.2 per cent, a sign of growing discouragement," BMO economist Sal Guatieri said in a note.
There were 706,000 of what the agency calls "discouraged workers" in September, up by 239,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The report, which measures the number of people with salaried employment across all sectors of the economy except for certain volatile industries such as agriculture, found that the largest job losses were in construction, manufacturing, retail trade and government.
In September, construction employment declined by 64,000, manufacturing fell by 51,000, retail trade fell by 39,000 and government employment was down by 53,000.
Since the start of the U.S. recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled. The 9.8 per cent rate is the highest level since 1983.
Some 35.6 per cent of those unemployed in September are what the department calls "long-term unemployed" — people who have been jobless for 27 weeks of more. The total number of such people rose 450,000 to 5.4 million during the month.
"Though the underlying trend in job losses is slowing, the September report almost cements the jobless-recovery view," Guatieri said.
The agency initially reported that 276,000 jobs were shed in July. But it revised that number to 304,000 Thursday.
August's report was also revised, from 216,000 jobs lost to 201,000 losses.
The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 33 hours. But average hourly earnings edged up by one cent US, or 0.1 per cent, to $18.67.