BLS March Unemployment Data

by Dollars and Sense

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released it's initial estimate of the unemployment rate for March 2009 today. Here is the beginning official summary:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: MARCH 2009

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline sharply in March (-663,000),
and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession
began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost two-thirds
(3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months. In March, job
losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

In March, the number of unemployed persons increased by 694,000 to 13.2 mil-
lion, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent. Over the past 12 months,
the number of unemployed persons has grown by about 5.3 million, and the unem-
ployment rate has risen by 3.4 percentage points. Half of the increase in both
the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate occurred in the last 4 months.

Here's the full summary.

Bob Feldman dug out some of the details for us here:

Black Male Worker Jobless Rate: 16.4 Percent In March

The official "not-seasonally adjusted" unemployment rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased from 16.1 percent to 16.4 percent between February 2009 and March 2009, while the "seasonally adjusted" unemployment rate for Black male workers increased from 14.9 percent to 15.4 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The "not-seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for all Black workers in March 2009 was 13.5 percent, while the "seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for all Black workers in March was 13.3 percent. (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t02.htm )

The "not-seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for all Hispanic or Latino workers increased from 12.1 percent to 12.2 percent between February 2009 and March 2009, while the "seasonally adjusted" rate for all Hispanic or Latino workers increased from 10.9 percent to 11.4 percent during this same period.

For all U.S. workers over 20 years-of-age, the "not-seasonally adjusted" jobless rate increased from 8.9 percent to 9 percent between February 2009 and March 2009, while the "seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for all U.S. workers increased from 8.1 percent to 8.5 percent. The "not-seasonally adjusted" unemployment rate for white male workers also increased from 9 percent to 9.3 percent between February 2009 and March 2009. The "not-seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for Hispanic or Latino male workers was 12.2 percent in March 2009, while the "not seasonally adjusted" unemployment rate for Hispanic or Latino women workers increased from 10.2 percent to 10.8 percent between February 2009 and March 2009.

The "seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for Black youth between 16 and 19 years-of-age was 32.5 percent in March 2009, while the "seasonally adjusted" jobless rate for white youth between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 19.1 percent to 20 percent between February 2009 and March 2009. The "not seasonally adjusted" unemployment rate for Hispanic or Latino youth between 16 and 19 years-of-age was 24.9 percent in March 2009.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April 3, 2009 press release:

"Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline sharply in March (-663,000)...In March, job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors.

"In March, the number of unemployed persons increased by 694,000 to 13.2 million...Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has grown by about 5.3 million...Half of the increase in both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate occurred in the last 4 months...

"Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs increased by 547,000 to 8.2 million in March. This group has nearly doubled in size over the past 12 months...

"The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose to 3.2 million over the month...

"In March, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) climbed by 423,000 to 9.0 million...

"About 2.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in March, 754,000 more than a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometimes 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 685,000 discouraged workers in March, up by 284,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them...

"Manufacturing employment fell by 161,000 in March, with widespread job losses occurring among the component industries...In March, the largest decreases occurred in fabricated metal products (-28,000), machinery (-27,000), and transportation equipment (-26,000).

"The construction industry lost 126,000 jobs in March...Employment fell in specialty trade contractors (-83,000) and construction of buildings (-33,000). These declines were split about evenly between the residential and nonresidential portions of these industries. Heavy and civil engineering construction also lost 10,000 jobs. Employment in mining and logging declined by 18,000 in March.

"Employment in professional and business services fell by 133,000 in March...More than half of the loss occurred in temporary help services, which cut 72,000 jobs in March...In March, architectural and engineering services lost 16,000 jobs.

"Retail trade employment fell by 48,000 over the month...In March, employment decreased in building material and garden supply stores (-13,000), automobile dealerships (-12,000), and electronics and appliance stores (-10,000). Employment in wholesale trade fell by 31,000 in March...

"Employment in financial activities continued to decline in March (-43,000)...In March, job losses occurred in credit intermediation (-15,000); real estate (-12,000); and securities, commodity contracts, and investments (-7,000).

"Leisure and hospitality shed 40,000 jobs in March, with most of the decrease in the accommodation industry (-23,000)...

"Transportation and warehousing lost 34,000 jobs in March...In March, employment declined in truck transportation (-15,000), support activities for transportation (-7,000) and couriers and messengers (-5,000)..."

--b.f.

Labels: Bureau of Labor Statistics, recession, unemployment

 

Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!).
4/03/2009 02:39:00 PM