Last month I pulled the monthly government job report stats out of some news stories and bulleted them out. The simplicity of it garnered a favorable response, so it will be an on running post.
Here are the job market and compensation numbers for October of 2007:
166,000 job gain in October 2007
- Twice as many workers in October as economist expected
- Fastest pace in five months
- Most economists believe downward revisions in the reading are likely
September has a revised 96,000 increase in jobs
- Originally reported as 110,000 job increase
Unemployment rate stayed at 4.7%
- Highest since August 2006
Wages were up 0.2%
- Wage is up 3.8% compared to a year earlier
- Payrolls are increasing at the slowest annual rate since June 2004
$17.58 is the average hourly wage
Average work week is 33.8 hours, staying flat
Specific Segment Job numbers:
Construction lost 5,000 workers
Retail businesses cut 21,500 employees from their payrolls
- Most in residential construction jobs but other sectors of the building industry grew
Manufacturers lost 21,000 jobs in October
- Their 16th consecutive decline
Lenders trimmed nearly 5,000 jobs
Financial sector gained 2,000 jobs overall
Retailers showed a 22,000 job decline
- Most of retail losses occured in auto dealerships and building supply stores, but other areas declined too
35,000 increase in jobs in the public school employment in October
- These are probably catch up numbers from schools
Temporary workers in business services gained 20,200
- This is after about the same amount lost in September
Other information:
Separate survey: labor force shrank by 211,000 jobs, and 465,000 Americans said they were no longer working or seeking work
More people stopped looking for work, therefore they are not in the government report as unemployed
Working Thoughts 