In December, the number of unemployed persons increased by 632,000 to 11.1 million and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 3.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.3 percentage points.
The unemployment rates for adult men (7.2 percent), adult women (5.9 percent), and whites (6.6 percent) increased in December. The jobless rates for teenagers (20.8 percent), blacks (11.9 percent), and Hispanics (9.2 percent) were little changed over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.1 percent in December, not seasonally adjusted. Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 315,000 to 6.5 million in December. Over the past 12 months, the size of this group has increased by 2.7 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose to 2.6 million in December and was up by 1.3 million in 2008.
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
The civilian labor force (154.4 million) and the labor force participation rate (65.7 percent) were little changed in December. The employment-population ratio fell by 0.4 percentage point to 61.0 percent over the month and by 1.7 percentage points in 2008.
In December, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (some-times referred to as involuntary part-time workers) continued to increase, reaching 8.0 million. The number of such workers rose by 3.4 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find fulltime jobs.
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
About 1.9 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in December, 564,000 more than 12 months 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 642,000 discouraged work-ers in December, up by 279,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work specifically because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.3 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in December had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)
Total nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply (-524,000) in December. Over the past 4 months, payroll employment has fallen by 1.9 million, or 1.4 percent. In December, large job losses continued in manufacturing, construction, and employment services, while health care continued to add jobs.
Manufacturing employment fell by 149,000 in December, the largest over-the-month decline since August 2001. Factory job losses totaled 791,000 in 2008, with nearly half of the decrease occurring in the fourth quarter. In December, declines were widespread among the component industries. The largest job losses occurred in fabricated metal products (-28,000) and motor vehicles and parts (-21,000).
Employment in construction continued to decline (-101,000) in December and has fallen by 899,000 since peaking in September 2006. Over the month, job losses occurred through-out the industry.
Within professional and business services, the temporary help industry lost 81,000 jobs in December, bringing job losses in 2008 to 490,000. In December, employment also fell in the management of companies and enterprises (-8,000) and in architectural and engineering services (-7,000).
Employment in retail trade declined by 67,000 in December and by 522,000 for all of 2008. More than half of the losses in 2008 occurred in the last 4 months of the year. In December, employment decreased in automobile dealerships (-22,000), furniture and home furnishing stores (-8,000), and electronics and appliance stores (-5,000). Whole-sale trade employment fell by 30,000 over the month and by 164,000 in 2008.
Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment in transportation and ware-housing declined by 24,000 in December, with losses in truck transportation (-16,000) and air transportation (-4,000). The information industry lost 20,000 jobs over the month. Food services employment continued to trend downward (-20,000) and has decreased by 104,000 since its recent peak in June 2008. Employment in financial activities edged down in December and fell by 148,000 in 2008.
Health care employment continued to grow in December (32,000), with over-the-month job gains in ambulatory services (14,000) and hospitals (12,000). In 2008, health care added 372,000 jobs.
The change in total nonfarm employment for October was revised from -320,000 to -423,000, and the change for November was revised from -533,000 to -584,000. Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors.
Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
In December, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.2 hour to 33.3 hours, seasonally adjusted - the lowest level on record for the series, which began in 1964. The manufacturing workweek, at 39.9 hours, declined by 0.4 hour over the month, and factory overtime, at 3.0 hours, declined by 0.3 hour.
The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 1.1 percent in December and 4.0 percent since peaking in December 2007. The manufacturing index declined by 2.4 percent over the month.
Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
In December, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, seasonally adjusted. This followed gains of 8 cents in November and 6 cents in October. For all of 2008, average hourly earnings increased by 3.7 percent and average weekly earnings rose by 2.2 percent.
