JUNE Employment Situation is Better Than Some MAY Think.

July 7, 2006 | Industry News | 0 Comments »

A Closer Look at Unemployment

The national unemploment rate for the month of June was unchanged over last month at 4.6 percent. However, a quick look at some underlying variables show that it is better than it may seem. Table A-3 shows that unemployment levels for people that finished high school or proceeded further with education have experienced decreases in unemployment.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE CHANGE FROM MAY TO JUNE BY EDUCATION

• High school graduates, no college: 4.4 to 4.1 = .3 percent change
• Some college or associate degree: 3.8 to 3.5 = .3 percent change
• Bachelor's degree and higher: 2.1 to 2.1 (No Change)

People with less than a high school diploma saw an increase in unemployment of .1 percent: 6.9 to 7.0

What are some of the reasons this is happening?

• Firms are looking more at labor as a source of a competitive advantage.
• Increases in retirement rates.
• Manual labor is becoming more and more automated.

More contributing factors can be determined by looking at the size of the labor force categories, the changes in their size and the reasons why they change. Visit the BLS for more.

What does is mean for firms?

If the trend continues, low-skilled labor costs will decrease. However, firms must prepare to pay more for the specialized individuals to realize additional benefits and gains in productivity.

Employment Situation News Release

Source: BLS

Original PDF Format

information:
Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 06-1172
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Establishment data: 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release
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Media contact: 691-5902 Friday, July 7, 2006.


THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: JUNE 2006

Non-farm payroll employment rose by 121,000 in June, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment continued to trend upward in several service-providing industries and in mining. Average hourly earnings rose by 8 cents in June.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons (7.0 million) was essentially unchanged in June, and the unemployment rate held at 4.6 percent. The unemployment rate for adult men declined to 4.0 percent, while the unemployment rate for teenagers edged up to 15.4 percent. Jobless rates for the other major worker groups--adult women (4.1 percent), whites (4.1 percent), blacks (9.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.3 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed persons--those unemployed 27 weeks or longer--fell to 1.1 million in June. This group accounted for 16.2 percent of total unemployment, down from 18.8 percent in May. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force (151.3 million) and total employment (144.4 million) continued to trend up in June. The labor force participation rate was essentially unchanged over the month at 66.2 percent and was about the same as a year earlier. The employment-population ratio, at 63.1 percent, also was essentially unchanged over the month, but was 0.4 percentage point higher than a year earlier. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons who held more than one job decreased by 320,000 in June to 7.4 million, after edging up in May. This group accounted for 5.1 per- cent of total employment in June, down from 5.4 percent a year earlier. (See table A-6.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in June, the same as a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 481,000 discouraged workers in June, also about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

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Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted (Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________________
| Quarterly | |
| averages | Monthly data |
|_________________|__________________________| May-
Category | 2006 | 2006 | June
|_________________|__________________________|change
| I | II | Apr. | May | June |
________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|____________________________________________________
Civilian labor force.....| 150,405| 151,041| 150,811| 150,991| 151,321| 330
Employment.............| 143,324| 144,009| 143,688| 143,976| 144,363| 387
Unemployment...........| 7,081| 7,032| 7,123| 7,015| 6,957| -58
Not in labor force.......| 77,359| 77,392| 77,388| 77,437| 77,350| -87
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Unemployment rates
|____________________________________________________
All workers..............| 4.7| 4.7| 4.7| 4.6| 4.6| 0.0
Adult men..............| 4.1| 4.1| 4.2| 4.2| 4.0| -.2
Adult women............| 4.2| 4.2| 4.3| 4.1| 4.1| .0
Teenagers..............| 15.5| 14.7| 14.6| 14.0| 15.4| 1.4
White..................| 4.1| 4.1| 4.1| 4.1| 4.1| .0
Black or African | | | | | |
American.............| 9.2| 9.1| 9.4| 8.9| 9.0| .1
Hispanic or Latino | | | | | |
ethnicity............| 5.6| 5.2| 5.4| 5.0| 5.3| .3
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|____________________________________________________
Nonfarm employment.......| 134,722|p135,119| 135,017|p135,109|p135,230| p121
Goods-producing(1).....| 22,363| p22,422| 22,419| p22,416| p22,431| p15
Construction.........| 7,483| p7,506| 7,505| p7,509| p7,505| p-4
Manufacturing........| 14,226| p14,244| 14,244| p14,236| p14,251| p15
Service-providing(1)...| 112,359|p112,697| 112,598|p112,693|p112,799| p106
Retail trade(2)......| 15,299| p15,236| 15,260| p15,227| p15,221| p-7
Professional and | | | | | |
business services..| 17,161| p17,249| 17,211| p17,256| p17,281| p25
Education and health | | | | | |
services...........| 17,584| p17,680| 17,650| p17,682| p17,708| p26
Leisure and | | | | | |
hospitality........| 12,954| p12,997| 12,989| p12,993| p13,009| p16
Government...........| 21,873| p21,940| 21,918| p21,936| p21,967| p31
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Hours of work(3)
|____________________________________________________
Total private............| 33.8| p33.9| 33.9| p33.8| p33.9| p0.1
Manufacturing..........| 41.0| p41.2| 41.2| p41.2| p41.3| p.1
Overtime.............| 4.5| p4.6| 4.6| p4.6| p4.6| p.0
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100)(3)
|____________________________________________________
Total private............| 104.2| p104.8| 104.8| p104.6| p105.0| p0.4
________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Earnings(3)
|____________________________________________________
Avg. hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private..........| $16.46| p$16.64| $16.61| p$16.62| p$16.70| p$0.08
Avg. weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private..........| 556.35| p563.66| 563.08| p561.76| p566.13| p4.37
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2 Quarterly averages and the over-the-month change are calculated using un-rounded data.
3 Data relate to private production or non-supervisory workers.
p = preliminary.

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Employment Status of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees (Household Survey Data)

Beginning in October 2005, questions were added to the household survey to identify persons who evacuated from their homes, even temporarily, due to Hurricane Katrina. Data collected through these questions do not account for all evacuees; persons living outside the scope of the survey--such as those living in hotels or shelters--are not included. The questions were asked of persons in the household survey sample throughout the country, since some evacuees relocated far from the storm-affected areas. An additional question determined whether evacuees had returned to their homes and were residing there at the time of the June survey. The total number of evacuees estimated from the household survey may change from month to month as people move in and out of the scope of the survey; also, because the estimates are obtained from a sample survey, they may vary from month to month due to sampling and non-sampling error.

Information gathered in June represented about 1.5 million persons age 16 and over who had evacuated from where they were living in August 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina. These evacuees either had moved back to their homes or were living in other residential units covered in the survey. About 6 in 10 of the evacuees were living in their August 2005 residences. Of all evacuees identified, 63.4 percent were in the labor force in June. The unemployment rate for persons identified as evacuees was 13.4 percent. The rate was much higher for evacuees who were not living in their former homes (25.9 percent) than for those who were again living in their pre-Katrina residences (5.9 percent). (See table B.)

Table B. Employment status in June 2006 of persons 16 years and over who evacuated from their August 2005 residence, even temporarily, due to Hurricane Katrina (1)
(Numbers in thousands, not seasonally adjusted)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | Residence in June 2006
| |---------------------------
Employment status in June 2006 | Total | Same | Different
| | as in | than in
| | August 2005 | August 2005
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Civilian noninstitutional population.| 1,512 | 931 | 581
Civilian labor force...............| 959 | 600 | 359
Participation rate...........| 63.