How the Job Market Looked at the Start of the Year, Shutdown and All

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "How the Job Market Looked at the Start of the Year, Shutdown and All"

Piers Wilkerson
5 years ago
Views:

1 This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. To order presentationready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit ECONOMY How the Job Market Looked at the Start of the Year, Shutdown and All The economy is now adding jobs at the best clip since 2016 By Josh Zumbrun and Jeffrey Sparshott Feb 1, am ET U.S. employers added 304,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate edged up to 4%. The partial government shutdown entered into unemployment figures but didn't appear to affect overall job creation. Over the past year, the number of jobs has grown by 1.9%, an acceleration from a year ago. The economy is now adding jobs at the best clip since The unemployment rate climbed to 4% in January, which is the highest since June. Broader measures of unemployment, which include discouraged workers or parttime workers seeking fulltime employment, also rose. These figures were elevated due to the government shutdown. The unemployment rate climbed for workers of all race and gender groups last month, with an especially large jump for black men, who saw their unemployment rate climb from 5.8% in November to 7.1% in this report. (Once again, these figures were elevated due to the shutdown and may come back down in February.) Workers with college degrees saw the biggest jump in unemployment last month, whereas workers without a high school education actually saw their unemployment rate fall slightly. This may partially reflect the effects of the shutdown, and the relatively high level of education in the federal workforce. The share of the population that is in the labor force, that is either working or looking for work, climbed slightly to 63.2%, the highest since The share of the population with a job also climbed slightly, reaching its highest mark since Participation rates climbed among workers age 25 to 54, when education and retirement keep fewer people out of the labor force. The share of this group with a job reached its highest level 1/10

2 Hiring History Percent change in total nonfarm jobs over the prior 12 months since The median duration of unemployment lasted for just under 8.9 weeks in January. Though improved from readings earlier this decade it's still longer than during last decade's housing boom, or during the late 1990s. Wages, on a both a weekly and hourly basis, continued to climb at a pace above 3% per year. With inflation coming back down slightly, after popping higher in 2018, workers have better real incomes too. Job gains continue to be strongest in the relatively highskilled categories of health care and professional business services. Federal government employment has been mostly flat. RELATED U.S. Employers Added 304,000 Jobs in January; Unemployment Ticked Up Due to Shutdown Everything You Need to Know About the January Jobs Report Five Things to Watch in the January Jobs Report (Jan. 31) Strong U.S. Job and Wage Growth Provides Assurance on Economy (Jan. 4) 2/10

3 Broader Measures Alternate measures of the rate of unemployment and underemployment RECESSION Plus parttime for economic reasons Plus marginally attached Plus discouraged workers Headline unemployment rate 3/10

4 Men and Women at Work Unemployment rate by race/ethnicity and gender, age 20 and over Black men Black women Hispanic women Hispanic men White men White women 4/10

5 School Work Unemployment rate by educational attainment, age 25 and over Less than h.s. High school Some college College 5/10

6 Labor Force Share of the population that is... In the labor force Employed 6/10

7 PrimeAge Workers Share of the primeage (25 54 years old) population that is... In the labor force Employed 7/10

8 Still Searching Median duration of unemployment weeks RECESSION 8/10

9 Wage Growth Change in average earnings from a year earlier Weekly wages Hourly wages In lation rate ; in lation rate is the allitems consumerprice index 9/10

10 Industry Shift Change in total number of jobs over the past 12 months, by industry Professional services Health Hospitality Construction Manufacturing Transportation Finance State local gov Wholesale trade Other services Mining Education Retail trade Information Federal gov Utilities logging thousand Share this: AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS ECONOMY EMPLOYMENT LABOR DEPARTMENT LABOR MARKET UNEMPLOYMENT WAGES Copyright 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. To order presentationready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit /10

Unemployment Rate. Percent 6

Unemployment Rate. Percent 6 12 Unemployment Rate 1 8 6 4 2 196 1965 197 1975 198 1985 199 1995 2 US Payroll Employment 6 4.6 Payroll Employment 4 Payroll Employment (left) Manufacturing (left) Unemployment Rate (right) 4.4 Forecast: