|
Payroll employment up; Labor force down in Aug
From the BLS site, EFL:Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 144,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, job growth occurred in several service-providing industries [also the payroll job growth in July was adjusted up quite a bit]. Both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, were little changed from July to August [the increase in employment in the household survey was only about 21,000 and there was a decrease of about 150,000 in the labor force]. The jobless rate is down from its recent high of 6.3 percent in June 2003. With the two hurricanes hitting Florida, I think the Sept figures to be released in Oct will be probably need to be caveated because several hundred thousand payroll jobs will be disrupted. The household survey probably won't be affected as much. Posted by: mhw 2004-09-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=42252 |