The Employment Situation in February

From the White House blog

Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that private sector businesses added 246,000 jobs in February. The economy has now added private sector jobs every month for three straight years, and a total of 6.35 million jobs have been added over that period.

While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides evidence that the recovery that began in mid-2009 is gaining traction. Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that private sector businesses added 246,000 jobs in February. Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 236,000 jobs last month. The economy has now added private sector jobs every month for three straight years, and a total of 6.35 million jobs have been added over that period.

The household survey showed that the unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent in January to 7.7 percent in February, the lowest since December 2008. The labor force participation rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 63.5 percent in February.

It is important to bear in mind that the reference period for today’s surveys was the week of February 10-16 for the household survey and the pay period containing February 12th for the establishment survey, both of which were before sequestration began. The Administration continues to urge Congress to move toward a sustainable Federal budget in a responsible way that balances tax loophole closing, entitlement reform, and sensible spending cuts, while making critical investments in the economy that promote growth and job creation and protecting our most vulnerable citizens.

According to the establishment survey, in February employment rose notably in professional and business services (+73,000), construction (+48,000), health care (+32,000), leisure and hospitality (+24,000), and retail trade (+23,700). Manufacturing gained 14,000 jobs in February. The manufacturing sector has added over half a million jobs over the last 37 months, the most for any such period since 1986. In the last two years the construction sector has added 306,000 jobs, with half of that increase occurring in the last five months. State and local governments lost 10,000 jobs in February, mostly in education. The local government education sector has now lost 340,700 jobs since its recent peak in November 2009.

As the Administration stresses every month, the monthly employment and unemployment figures can be volatile, and payroll employment estimates can be subject to substantial revision. Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.

Real Unemployment at 13.9%

According to the following press release issued by Americans for Democratic Action, the true unemployment figure for our Nation stands at a staggering 13.9%.  The number is not made up or imaginary, it is an actual statistic released on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 

WASHINGTON - The real unemployment rate released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 13.9%, nearly double the official 7.6% rate reported.

The real rate includes marginally attached workers which the BLS reports “are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.”

The steep increase of 598,000 newly unemployed for January pushed that figure to its highest level since 1974, and underscored the urgency for an aggressive, swift and large enough economic recovery plan to reverse the downward economic trend. Since the recession began in December 2007, a staggering 3.6 million jobs have been lost.

ADA National Director, Amy Isaacs, said, “Enough is enough. Every day that Congress delays passing President Obama’s job creation plan, the economy hemorrhages thousands more jobs. The time for bold action from our elected leaders is now.”

Americans unemployed + those losing work hours = record 12.5 percent

Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation’s economy lost 533,000 jobs last month, one of the worst jobs reports ever. With that, the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent. But the actual percentage of Americans who have lost hours and are out of work is much higher:

More significantly, the unemployment rate does not include those too discouraged to look for work any longer or those working fewer hours than they would like. Add those people to the roster of the unemployed, and the rate hit a record 12.5 percent in November, up 1.5 percentage points since September.

Think Progress -