Saturday, January 9, 2010

Employment Drops by 85,000

Many were expecting December to show a mild payroll decrease, or perhaps an increase in jobs. Not so.

Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 85,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, while temporary help services and health care added jobs.

Unemployment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (10.2 percent),adult women (8.2 percent), teenagers (27.1 percent), whites (9.0 percent), blacks (16.2 percent), and Hispanics (12.9 percent)--showed little change inDecember. The unemployment rate for Asians was 8.4 percent, not seasonally
adjusted.

Among the unemployed, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to trend up, reaching 6.1 million. In December, 4 in 10 unemployed workers were jobless for 27 weeks or longer.

The civilian labor force participation rate fell to 64.6 percent in December. The employment-population ratio declined to 58.2 percent.

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