The Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S department of Labor, released its monthly dossier on employment situation across the country. This data sheet was in form of a news release that was published on Friday, September 5th 2014 –“THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — AUGUST 2014”
UnemploymentCalculator.org has decoded this extravagant fact sheet and we present the data that matters to you the most.
Overall, 142,000 jobs were added in August, unemployment rate dipped 0.1 percentage points to 6.1 during this month. This is fairly good turnaround when compared to August 2013, where the unemployment percentage was around 7.2.
The numbers of unemployed persons were around 9.6 million. Professional and business services, healthcare domains witnessed job gains.
Household Survey Data
Unemployment rates for major worker groups are as below.
Adult men (5.7 percent), Adult women (5.7 percent), Teenagers (19.6 percent)
Whites (5.3 percent), Blacks (11.4 percent), Hispanics (7.5 percent), Asians (4.5 percent )
- The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 192,000 to 3.0 million in August. These individuals constitute about 31.2 % of the total unemployed.
- The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in August at 7.3 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in August, compared with an average monthly gain of 212,000 over the prior 12 months. As discussed earlier in this article, job growth occurred largely in professional and business services and in health care.
- Professional and business services added 47,000 jobs during the month
- Employment in health care increased by 34,000 in August
- Food services and drinking places continued to trend up in August (+22,000)
- Construction employment continued to trend up in August (+20,000)
- Manufacturing employment was unchanged in August, following an increase of 28,000 in July
- Retail trade employment was little changed (-8,000)
Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and government, showed little change over the month.
In August, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was 34.5 hours for the sixth consecutive month.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents in August to $24.53. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent.