The October 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The official unemployment rate stayed the same at 9.6% and the total jobs gained were 151,000, with 34,900 of those jobs being temporary.
The September 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The official unemployment rate stayed the same at 9.6% and the total jobs lost were -95,000. -159,000 government jobs were lost and private sector jobs increased by +64,000, with 16,900 of those jobs being temporary. -77,000 of the government jobs lost were temporary Census jobs. U6, or the broader unemployment measurement, jumped up to 17.1%.
The July 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The official unemployment rate remained at 9.5% and the total jobs lost were -131,000. 143,000 temporary government census jobs were lost and private sector jobs increased by 71,000. Minus the census jobs, total jobs created was 12,000.
The June 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The unemployment rate decreased to 9.5% and the total jobs lost were -125,000. 225,000 temporary government Census jobs were lost and private sector jobs increased 83,000. Minus the Census jobs, total jobs created was 100,000. 79,000 permanent jobs were created in June 2010.
The May 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The rate decreased to 9.7% and the number of jobs gained is 431,000. 411,000 of those jobs were temporary Census workers. Only 41,000 private sector jobs were added. The official unemployment rate dropped due to the temporary Census hiring and people plain fell off the count.
Total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 431,000 in May, reflecting the hiring of 411,000 temporary employees to work on Census 2010. Private-sector employment changed little (+41,000). The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent
Below is the nonfarm payroll, seasonally adjusted:
The April 2010 monthly unemployment figures are out. The rate increased to 9.9% and the number of jobs gained is 290,000. How the rate can increase when the U.S. gained that many jobs will be answered below.
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 290,000 in April, the unemployment rate edged up to 9.9 percent
Below is the nonfarm payroll, seasonally adjusted:
Many people are probably not aware that the BLS isn't the only agency that makes surveys of unemployment levels. Gallup does too, and today it released a new report.
Gallup's underemployment measure hit 20.0% on March 15 -- up from 19.7% two weeks earlier and 19.5% at the start of the year...
Gallup classifies Americans as underemployed if they are unemployed or working part-time but wanting full-time work. On March 15, Gallup's unemployment rate was 10.3% -- essentially the same as the 10.4% of March 1, but down from 10.8% in mid-February. However, this decline in the percentage of unemployed Americans was more than offset over the past 30 days by an increase in the percentage of those working part-time but wanting full-time work, from 9.0% in mid-February to 9.7% in mid-March.
The much awaited January unemployment report is released and from the headlines, one would think this is great. It's not.
The reason is the U.S. lost another 20,000 jobs. The employment-population ratio rose from 58.2 to 58.4 percent. This means while the ratio of the employed to unemployed improved, it is in part because there are more people added to the general population who are not being counted in the potential workforce or inversely, a decrease in the overall civilian workforce, which causes the ratio to increase.
Below are the total non-farm payrolls. The first is the raw numbers and the second is in percent change from the previous months report. In nonfarm payrolls one can see the real job losses that are still occurring this recession.
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