Labor Line

September 2024_________________________ 

Labor line has job news and commentary with a one stop short cut for America’s job markets and job related data including the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

This month's job and employment summary data are below and this month's inflation data is below that. 

The latest blog entry American Whitelash

The Establishment Job Report with data released August 2, 2024.

  -Current Job and Employment Data- 

Jobs

Total Non-Farm Establishment Jobs up 142,000 to 158,779,000

Total Private Jobs up 118,000 to 135,440,000

Total Government Employment up 24,000 to 23,339,000  

Civilian Non-Institutional Population up 212,000 to 268,856,000

Civilian Labor Force up 120,000 to 168,549,000

Employed up 168,000 to 161,434,000

Employed Men down 315,000 to 85,075,000

Employed Women up 483,000 to 76,539,000

Unemployed down 48,000 to 7,115,000

Not in the Labor Force up 91,000 to 100,306,000

Unemployment Rate went down .1% to 4.2% or 7,115/168,549

Labor Force Participation Rate stayed the same at 62.7%, or 168,549/268,856

Prices and inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all Urban Consumers was up by a monthly average of 8.0 percent for 2022. 

The CPI August report for the 12 months ending with July shows the 

CPI for All Items was up 2.9% 

CPI for Food and Beverages was up 2.2% 

CPI for Housing was up 4.4% 

CPI for Apparel was down 2.1% 

CPI for Transportation including gasoline was up 1.0% 

CPI for Medical Care was up 3.2% 

CPI for Recreation was up 1.4% 

CPI for Education was up 2.8% 

CPI for Communication was down .4% 

This Month’s Establishment Jobs Press Report

MODEST IMPROVEMENT MONTH

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published its September report for jobs in August. The civilian labor force was up 120 thousand, less than normal population growth as many people did not enter the labor force. The employed increased by only 168 thousand while the unemployed decreased 48 thousand. Men’s employment dropped again this month by 316 thousand while women’s employment was up again by 483 thousand. Women now are 47.6 percent of the employed. The decrease of the unemployed was small but enough to lower the unemployment rate by .1 percent to 4.2 percent. The labor force participation rate remained at 62.7 percent.

The seasonally adjusted total of establishment employment was up 142 thousand for August. The increase was 108 thousand more jobs in the private service sector combined with a(an) 10 thousand increase in jobs from goods production. The total of 118 thousand jobs gained in the private sector combined with a(n) increase of 24 thousand government service jobs accounts for the total increase.

Goods production had a net increase of 10 thousand jobs. Natural resources remained unchanged; manufacturing employment was down 24 thousand jobs. Construction jobs had all the increase with 34 thousand new jobs where all construction sub sectors had more jobs.  Specialty trade contractors added 14.8 thousand of the jobs and heavy and engineering construction added 13.5 thousand more. Construction to buildings added another 5.6 thousand.  In manufacturing durable goods dropped 25 thousand jobs, primarily from a decline of 12 thousand jobs in transportation equipment, offset slightly with a thousand more jobs in nondurable goods employment.

Government service employment increased 24 thousand jobs. The federal government added a thousand jobs and state government added 1 thousand jobs while local government jobs added 22 thousand jobs. Government jobs excluding education were up 21.2 thousand this month, which leaves only 800 new jobs in state and local education. Private sector education was up 2.7 thousand seasonally adjusted jobs, which brings the total of 3.5 thousand new jobs in education, a modest increase for the start of many schools.

Leisure and hospitality took first place for private service sector job gains this month with 46 thousand new jobs, displacing health care for the first time in months. Arts, entertainment and recreation had 12.3 thousand new jobs this month with performing arts and spectator sports getting 10.3 thousand of the jobs. Accommodation and food service had 33.5 thousand new jobs with 29.9 thousand of the jobs at restaurants.

Health care took second place for private service sector job gains but with only 44 thousand new jobs, way down from recent months. Three of the health care subsectors had more jobs with ambulatory care adding 23.9 thousand jobs; hospitals added 9.6 thousand jobs; nursing and residential care had job losses, down 2.6 thousand jobs, the first job losses in this subsector in several months. Social assistance services added 13.2 thousand new jobs, but individual and family services added 18.2 thousand jobs offset by job losses in other social service sub sectors including badly needed child care. The growth rate for health care this month, down slightly from last month, came to 2.35 percent, above the average of 2.08 percent per month of the last 15 years.

Professional and business services had only 8 thousand new jobs, a small increase but better than last month. The professional and technical services subsector added 13.4 thousand jobs; management of companies lost 6.9 thousand jobs while administrative and support services including waste management subsector barely changed, adding just 900 jobs.

Among professional and technical services, computer systems design had 3.4 thousand new jobs; scientific research and development added 4.2 thousand jobs. Gains were offset with a decline of 2.3 thousand jobs in legal services among other small professional job declines. The management of company’s job loss was quite unusual, while among administrative support, services to buildings had 2.2 thousand more jobs combined with small job losses in temporary help and other administrative support sub sectors.

Trade, transportation and utilities, the biggest sector of all, managed to create just 2 thousand new jobs. Wholesale trade added 4.9 thousand new jobs, offset by a decline of 11.1 thousand retail jobs. Transportation jobs had a net of 7.9 thousand new jobs, with transit and ground passenger service adding 4.5 thousand of the jobs and 3.9 thousand more jobs in the warehouse and storage sub sector.

Information services lost 7 thousand jobs in a general decline. Motion picture production dropped 4.2 thousand jobs; publishing dropped 3.7 thousand jobs similar to last month’s decline. Financial Activities had a net gain of 11.4 thousand jobs with 5.3 thousand of the increase coming in the finance and insurance, mostly insurance. Jobs in real estate were up 6.1 thousand. The category, other, added a net of a thousand jobs with personal and laundry services up 2.5 thousand jobs, and with repair and maintenance adding another 2 thousand jobs offset with job losses in non-profit membership associations.

The economy added 142 thousand jobs for August, continuing monthly increases and with more jobs added this month than last month. Establishment employment in August was 158.779 million with an annual growth rate of 1.07 percent; a little below the rate of population growth. Except for construction no other sub sector had a good growth in jobs. Construction employment has remained a little below five percent for decades, but recently has increased to 5.2 percent of establishment employment. However, it will not be a major source of job growth. This month’s job total is 2.358 million above August a year ago and 5.447 million jobs above August two years ago.

 

August Details 

Non Farm Total +142

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Non-Farm employment for establishments increased from July by 142 thousand jobs for a(n) August total of 158.779 million. (Note 1 below) An increase of 142 thousand each month for the next 12 months represents an annual growth rate of +1.07% The annual growth rate from a year ago beginning August 2023 was +1.51%; the average annual growth rate from 5 years ago beginning August 2019 was +.99%; from 15 years ago beginning August 2009 it was +1.32%. America needs growth around 1.5 percent a year to keep itself employed.

Sector breakdown for 12 Sectors in 000’s of jobs 

1. Natural Resources +0

Natural Resources jobs including logging and mining stayed the same from July with 635 thousand jobs in August. No changes in jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of 0.0 percent.  Natural resource jobs are down 9 thousand for the 12 months just ended. Jobs in 2000 averaged around 600 thousand with little prospect for growth.  This is the smallest of 12 major sectors of the economy with .4 percent of establishment jobs.

2. Construction +34

Construction jobs were up 34 thousand from July with 8.280 million jobs in August. An increase of 34 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +4.95 percent.  Construction jobs are up 228 thousand for the 12 months just ended. The growth rate for the last 5 years is 1.98%. Construction jobs rank 9th among the 12 sectors with 5.2 percent of non-farm employment.

3. Manufacturing -24

Manufacturing jobs were down 24 thousand from July with 12.927 million jobs in August. A decrease of 24 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -2.22 percent.  Manufacturing jobs were down for the last 12 months by 14 thousand. The growth rate for the last 5 years is +.12%; for the last 15 years by +.71%. Manufacturing ranks 6th among 12 major sectors in the economy with 8.2 percent of establishment jobs.

4. Trade, Transportation & Utility +2

Trade, both wholesale and retail, transportation and utility employment were up 2 thousand jobs from July with 29.047 million jobs in August. An increase of 2 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.08 percent. Jobs are up by 207 thousand for last 12 months. Growth rates for the last 5 years are +.96 percent. Jobs in these sectors rank first as the biggest sectors with combined employment of 18.3 percent of total establishment employment.

5. Information Services -7

Information Services jobs were down by 7 thousand from July with 2.9963million jobs in August.  A decrease of 7 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of -2.80 percent. (Note 2 below)  Jobs are down by 4 thousand for the last 12 months. Information jobs reached 3.7 million at the end of 2000, but started dropping, reaching 3 million by 2004 and has slowly come back to 3.0 million in the last decade. Information Services is a small sector ranking 11th of 12 with 1.9 percent of establishment jobs.

6. Financial Activities +11

Financial Activities jobs were up 11 thousand from July at 9.258 million in August. An increase of 11 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +1.43 percent. Jobs are up 35 thousand for the last 12 months.  (Note 3 below) This sector also includes real estate as well as real estate lending. The long term growth rates are now at a 5 year growth rate of +1.09 percent, and a 15 year growth rate of +1.16 percent. Financial activities rank 8th of 12 with 5.8 percent of establishment jobs.

7. Business and Professional Services +8

Business and Professional Service jobs went up 8 thousand from July to 22.975 million in August. An increase of 8 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.42 percent. Jobs are up 110 thousand for the last 12 months. Note 4 The annual growth rate for the last 5 years was +1.45 percent. It ranks as 2nd among the 12 sectors now. It was 2nd in 1993, when manufacturing was bigger and second rank now with 14.5 percent of establishment employment. 

8. Education including public and private +5

Education jobs were up 5 thousand jobs from July at 14.582 million in August. An increase of 5 thousand jobs each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.39 percent. These include public and private education. Jobs are up 180 thousand for the last 12 months. (note 5) The 15 year growth rate equals +.51 percent. Education ranks 5th among 12 sectors with 9.2 percent of establishment jobs

9. Health Care +44

Health care jobs were up 44 thousand from July to 22.573 million in August. An increase of 44 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +2.35 percent. Jobs are up 921 thousand for the last 12 months. (note 6)  The health care long term 15 year growth rate has been +2.08 percent lately compared to +2.35 percent for this month’s jobs. Health care ranks 3rd of 12 with 14.1 percent of establishment jobs.

10. Leisure and hospitality +46

Leisure and hospitality jobs were up 46 thousand from July to 16.976 million in August.  (note 7) An increase of 46 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +3.26 percent. Jobs are up 295 thousand for the last 12 months. More than 80 percent of leisure and hospitality are accommodations and restaurants assuring that most of the new jobs are in restaurants. Leisure and hospitality ranks 4th of 12 with 10.7 percent of establishment jobs. It moved up to 7th from 4th in the pandemic decline.

11. Other +1

Other Service jobs, which include repair, maintenance, personal services and non-profit organizations were up 1 thousand from July to 5.911 million in August. An increase of 1 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +.20 percent. Jobs are up 65 thousand for the last 12 months. (Note 8) Other services had +.66 percent growth for the last 15 years. These sectors rank 10th of 12 with 3.7 percent of total non-farm establishment jobs.

12. Government, excluding education +22

Government service employment went up 22 thousand from July at 12.622 million jobs in August. An increase of 22 thousand each month for the next 12 months would be an annual growth rate of +2.11 percent. Jobs are up 345 thousand for the last 12 months.  (note 9) Government jobs excluding education tend to increase slowly with a 15 year growth rate of +.27 percent. Government, excluding education, ranks 7th of 12 with 7.9 percent of total non-farm establishment jobs.

Sector Notes__________________________

(1) The total cited above is non-farm establishment employment that counts jobs and not people. If one person has two jobs then two jobs are counted. It excludes agricultural employment and the self employed. Out of a total of people employed agricultural employment typically has about 1.5 percent, the self employed about 6.8 percent, the rest make up wage and salary employment. Jobs and people employed are close to the same, but not identical numbers because jobs are not the same as people employed: some hold two jobs. Remember all these totals are jobs. back

(2) Information Services is part of the new North American Industry Classification System(NAICS). It includes firms or establishments in publishing, motion picture & sound recording, broadcasting, Internet publishing and broadcasting, telecommunications, ISPs, web search portals, data processing, libraries, archives and a few others.back

(3) Financial Activities includes deposit and non-deposit credit firms, most of which are still known as banks, savings and loan and credit unions, but also real estate firms and general and commercial rental and leasing.back

(4) Business and Professional services includes the professional areas such as legal services, architecture, engineering, computing, advertising and supporting services including office services, facilities support, services to buildings, security services, employment agencies and so on.back

(5) Education includes private and public education. Therefore education job totals include public schools and colleges as well as private schools and colleges. back

(6) Health care includes ambulatory care, private hospitals, nursing and residential care, and social services including child care. back

(7) Leisure and hospitality has establishment with arts, entertainment and recreation which has performing arts, spectator sports, gambling, fitness centers and others, which are the leisure part. The hospitality part has accommodations, motels, hotels, RV parks, and full service and fast food restaurants. back

(8) Other is a smorgasbord of repair and maintenance services, especially car repair, personal services and non-profit services of organizations like foundations, social advocacy and civic groups, and business, professional, labor unions, political groups and political parties. back

(9) Government job totals include federal, state, and local government administrative work but without education jobs. back

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Notes

Jobs are not the same as employment because jobs are counted once but one person could have two jobs adding one to employment but two to jobs. Also the employment numbers include agricultural workers, the self employed, unpaid family workers, household workers and those on unpaid leave. Jobs are establishment jobs and non-other. back

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American Whitelash

Wesley Lowery, American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress, NY: Mariner Books, 2023), 237 pages The book opens by recounting the Grant Park celebration following the 2008 election of President Barak Obama. The narrative contrasts those who saw the election as an opportunity to ease the racial divide with the many white men and a few white women who saw the election as a threat to their identity and class status. The election of a president with a black father and a white mother brought a surge of anger and hatred and paved the way for a Whitelash filled with violence, and Trump. The author quotes Obama from his memoir. “It was as if my very presence in the White House had triggered a deep-seated panic, a sense that the natural order had been disrupted.” A quote from a poet and essayist, Camonghne Felix, explains “What we expected of the Obama administration was beyond what the framework of the presidency allowed.” How true. Presidents take an oath to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution, which falsely suggests there is presidential power to do. The book has five parts divided into numbered subsections and an epilogue, all of it covering just 237 pages. Part I establishes the threat of terrorism with a review of white supremacy as practiced in the United States. At the end of Part I Lowery explains the book is “an exploration of the horror that our era has wrought and an attempt to place a decade of American carnage in the context of America history; . . . My goal is to be neither comprehensive nor encyclopedic. This book is an attempt to put human faces on the relentless cycle of violence that has defined American history.” Part I ends at page 27 and readers should know the remaining 210 pages puts a depressing and violent human face on the United States. In part II readers visit Patchogue, Long Island, where they meet Joselo Lucero and his son Marcelo. They are immigrants from Ecuador. Narrative follows a gang of middle class white teens, some with Swastika tattoos, roaming about intentionally looking for victims to assault. One of the group named Jeff Conroy stabbed and killed Marcelo Lucero. The narrative follows a journalist's investigation of the boy's racist and white supremacist views, and the prosecution and trial of a hate crime manslaughter and gang assault. Part II and all the remaining parts fill in related historical material of racism, cite criminology research and provide examples of the current status of white supremacy. Lowery's white supremacy discussion establishes white supremacy as a dangerous and more violent extension of the more common racial prejudice that has always plagued America. Part III - White Radicalization - builds a narrative around the saga of white supremacist Wade Michael Page. Page carried out a mass shooting after invading the temple of Sikhs in Oak Park, Wisconsin. Part IV - An American Nazi's final bark - builds another narrative around white racist, Glenn Miller, who attacked a Jewish Community Center and assassinated Jewish people there. Upon his arrest he informed police “My name is Glenn Miller. I’m an anti-Semite. I hate goddamn Jews. How many did I get.” As with Part II, Parts III and IV, add related discussion of related study and writing in the causes and consequences of right-wing extremists and the need for more aggressive counter measures. Part V - A Movement Rises – narrates a history of the Black Lives Matter campaign, which began shortly after the Obama inauguration with the deliberate murder of Oscar Grant by BART transit police at Fruitvale station. A bystander recorded the Fruitvale murder with a phone camera. There would be more video recorded murders that would go online. Lowery interviewed some of the victim’s families giving an especially personal side to their horror and rage. Readers will find assassination discussion of Eric Garner, New York; Trayvon Martin, Sanford, Florida; Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri; Shawn Washington, St. Louis; George Floyd, Minneapolis; Jamar Clark, Minneapolis; Philando Castile, St. Paul, Minnesota; Heather Heyer, Charlottesville; Breonna Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky. Only a page of a twelve page epilogue has what I would expect to find in an epilogue. All but a page recounts another assassination of a young man named Richard Collins III and its depressing aftermath. The one page ending takes a couple of sentences to write the depressing reality of what so many suspect already that politicians like Trump will continue to exploit and encourage bigotry and the murderous acts of white supremacists. Lowery’s last sentence reads “And as long as there are elements within our mainstream politics and media willing to cynically play to those fears – unwilling to call racism and bigotry by their rightful names – we can expect additional bursts of white racial violence, the horrific calling card of our era of American Whitelash.” Author Lowery does a good job narrating and documenting the evidence for the many episodes of white supremacist violence he recounts in the book. As a journalist he covered many of the events, which allows a first-hand account. The book has endnotes by page number but does not have an index, a decided disadvantage because it makes it difficult to follow names that appear and reappear in the narrative. The book includes authors and titles of related work at various places around the book. I counted at least twenty of them and they appear in lieu of a bibliography. We learn from a white supremacist interviewed for the book they avoid formal organization as too easy to infiltrate and prosecute. Instead, they use social media to spread their violent aims and hope converts will plan their own assassinations. As Lowery explained at the beginning, he wanted to let readers understand “the relentless cycle of violence that has defined American history.” He did that well but I would expect those who finish the book will be evaluating the chances for civil war and realize Trump has spent the last eight years preaching white supremacy.