February 2008 Job Report Statistics
March 7, 2008 Leave a comment
Here are the job market and compensation numbers for February 2008 (based on the job report):
Net loss of 63,000 jobs in the month (revised to 76,000 loss)
- 88,000 less than expected by Economists
- 63,000 job loss is the worst in almost 5 years
- January was revised down from a loss of 17,000 to 22,000 (revised also to a loss of 76,000)
- December was revised from 82,000 job increase to 41,000 job increase
Unemployment rate moved to 4.8%
- Fewer people were looking for work resulting in the unemployment rate to decrease from 4.9% to 4.8%. That means people looking for work are discouraged.
- Economists had forecast the unemployment rate would rise to 5%
Wages were up 0.3% for February
- Adjusted for inflation than means pay was flat
$17.20 is the average hourly wage
Specific Segment Job numbers:
Construction lost 39,000 workers
Manufacturers lost 52,000 jobs
Retailers showed a 34,000 loss
Business and Professional services lost 20,000 jobs
Temporary Staffing reduced payroll by 28,000 jobs
Hotels showed a cut of 4,000
Service sector gained 26,000 jobs, which is low
Other information:
The private sector as a whole loss 101,000 jobs (revised to 109,000)
The loss in Temp staffing means businesses are slowing their spending
The loss in Hotel staffing means consumers are slowing their spending