Employment Situation Summary Jan 2010

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- JANUARY 2010


The unemployment rate fell from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in January, and nonfarm
payroll employment was essentially unchanged (-20,000), the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction and in
transportation and warehousing, while temporary help services and retail
trade added jobs.

Household Survey Data

In January, the number of unemployed persons decreased to 14.8 million,
and the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage point to 9.7 percent.
(See table A-1.)

In January, unemployment rates for most major worker groups--adult men
(10.0 percent), teenagers (26.4 percent), blacks (16.5 percent), and
Hispanics (12.6 percent)--showed little change. The jobless rate for adult
women fell to 7.9 percent, and the rate for whites declined to 8.7 percent.
The jobless rate for Asians was 8.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted.
(See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

This release includes new household survey tables with information about
employment and unemployment of veterans, persons with a disability, and the
foreign born. In January, the unemployment rate of veterans from Gulf War
era II (September 2001 to the present) was 12.6 percent, compared with 10.4
percent for nonveterans. Persons with a disability had a higher jobless rate
than persons with no disability--15.2 versus 10.4 percent. In addition, the
labor force participation rate of persons with a disability was 21.8 percent,
compared with 70.1 percent for those without a disability. The unemployment
rate for the foreign born was 11.8 percent, and the rate for the native born
was 10.3 percent. (The data in these new tables are not seasonally adjusted.)
(See tables A-5, A-6, and A-7.)


    ----------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                                |
   |  Changes to The Employment Situation Text, Tables, and Data    |
   |                                                                |
   |  Several changes to The Employment Situation news release text |
   |  and tables are being introduced with this release. In addi-   |
   |  tion, establishment survey data have been revised as a result |
   |  of the annual benchmarking process and the updating of sea-   |
   |  sonal adjustment factors. Also, household survey data for Jan-|
   |  uary 2010 reflect updated population estimates. See the notes |
   |  at the end of the text for more information about all of      |
   |  these changes.                                                |
   |                                                                |
    ----------------------------------------------------------------


In January, the number of persons unemployed due to job loss decreased by
378,000 to 9.3 million. Nearly all of this decline occurred among permanent
job losers.  (See table A-11.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over)
continued to trend up in January, reaching 6.3 million. Since the start of
the recession in December 2007, the number of long-term unemployed has risen
by 5.0 million. (See table A-12.)

In January, the civilian labor force participation rate was little changed at
64.7 percent. The employment-population ratio rose from 58.2 to 58.4 percent.
(See table A-1.)

The number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes
referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell from 9.2 to 8.3 million
in January. These individuals were working part time because their hours had
been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See
table A-8.)

About 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in
January, an increase of 409,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not
seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted
and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime 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. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in
January, up from 734,000 a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) 
Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they
believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million people
marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks
preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsi-
bilities.

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in January (-20,000).
Job losses continued in construction and in transportation and warehousing,
while employment increased in temporary help services and retail trade. Since
the start of the recession in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by
8.4 million. Over the last 3 months, however, employment has shown little net
change. (See table B-1.)

Construction employment declined by 75,000 in January, with nonresidential
specialty trade contractors (-48,000) accounting for the majority of the de-
cline. Since December 2007, employment in construction has fallen by 1.9
million.

In January, transportation and warehousing employment fell by 19,000, due to
a large job loss among couriers and messengers (-23,000).

Employment in manufacturing was little changed in January (11,000). After expe-
riencing steep job losses earlier in the recession, employment declines
moderated considerably in the second half of 2009. In January, job gains in
motor vehicles and parts (23,000) and plastics and rubber products (6,000)
offset small job losses elsewhere in the industry.

In January, temporary help services added 52,000 jobs. Since reaching a low
point in September 2009, temporary help services employment has risen by
247,000.

Retail trade employment rose by 42,000 in January, after showing little
change in the prior 2 months. Job gains occurred in January among food stores
(14,000), clothing stores (13,000), and general merchandise retailers (10,000).

Health care employment continued to trend up in January. Ambulatory health
care services added 15,000 jobs over the month.

In January, the federal government added 33,000 jobs, including 9,000 tempo-
rary positions for Census 2010. Employment in state and local governments,
excluding education, continued to trend down.

This release includes a new establishment survey table with information about
women employees. In January, women made up 49.9 percent of total nonfarm pay-
roll employment, compared with 48.8 percent when the recession began in
December 2007. (See table B-5.)

Also new in this release are data on hours and earnings for all employees in
the private sector. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls was up by 0.1 hour to 33.9 hours in January. The manufacturing work-
week for all employees rose by 0.3 hour to 39.9 hours, and factory overtime
increased by 0.1 hour over the month. Since June, the manufacturing workweek
has increased by 1.2 hours. In January, the average workweek for production
and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.1 hour to
33.3 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In January, average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm pay-
rolls increased by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $22.45. Over the past 12 months,
average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. In January, average hourly
earnings of private production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 5 cents,
or 0.3 percent, to $18.89. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised from
4,000 to 64,000, and the change for December was revised from -85,000 to
-150,000. Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the
monthly recalculation of seasonal factors. The annual benchmark process also
contributed to these revisions.

_____________
The Employment Situation for February is scheduled to be released on Friday,
March 5, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. (EST).




    ---------------------------------------------------------------
   |                                                               |
   |      Changes to The Employment Situation Text and Tables      |
   |                                                               |
   | Effective with this release, several changes to The Employ-   |
   | ment Situation news release text and tables have been intro-  |
   | duced. Two new summary tables--one for the household survey   |
   | titled "Summary table A" and one for the establishment survey |
   | titled "Summary table B"--replace what previously had been a  |
   | single table (table A) containing data from both surveys.     |
   |                                                               |
   | Three new household survey data tables provide information on |
   | the employment status of veterans (table A-5), persons with a |
   | disability (table A-6), and the foreign born (table A-7). In  |
   | addition, two new seasonally adjusted series (on permanent    |
   | job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs) are      |
   | being added to table A-11, which shows unemployment by reason.|
   |                                                               |
   | The establishment survey data tables (the B tables) have been |
   | redesigned to include the addition of several data series.    |
   | New data on all employee hours and earnings are being pub-    |
   | lished for the first time. Data on women employees and produc-|
   | tion and nonsupervisory employees are now being published     |
   | concurrent with the newest-available establishment survey em- |
   | ployment data. Previously, employment data on women were      |
   | available with a one-month lag and were not published in The  |
   | Employment Situation news release. The Technical Note section |
   | of this release has been updated to cover the new concepts    |
   | being introduced.                                             |
   |                                                               |
   | Additional information about these changes, including cross-  |
   | walks between the old and new tables, is available at www.    |
   | bls.gov/bls/upcoming_empsit_changes.htm.                      |
   |                                                               |
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
                                  
                                  
                                  
                                  
                  Revisions to Establishment Survey Data

In accordance with annual practice, the establishment survey data have been
revised to reflect comprehensive universe counts of payroll jobs, or benchmarks.
These counts are derived principally from unemployment insurance tax records
for March 2009. As a result of the benchmark process, all data series were
subject to revision from April 2008 forward, the time period since the last
benchmark was established. In addition, with this release, the seasonally
adjusted establishment survey data from January 2005 forward were subject to
revision due to the introduction of updated seasonal adjustment factors.

Table A presents revised total nonfarm employment data on a seasonally adjust-
ed basis for January through December 2009. The revised data for April 2009
forward incorporate the effect of applying the rate of change measured by the
sample to the new benchmark level, as well as updated net business birth/death
model adjustments and new seasonal adjustment factors. The November and
December 2009 revisions also reflect the routine incorporation of additional
sample receipts into the November final and December second preliminary
estimates. The total nonfarm employment level for March 2009 was revised down-
ward by 902,000 (930,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis), or 0.7 percent. The
previously published level for December 2009 was revised downward 1,390,000
(1,363,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis).

An article that discusses the benchmark and post-benchmark revisions, as well
as all revised historical Current Employment Statistics (CES) data, can be
accessed through the CES homepage at www.bls.gov/ces/. Information on the
revisions released today also may be obtained by calling (202) 691-6555.



  Table A.  Revisions in total nonfarm employment, January-December 2009,
  seasonally adjusted                                                   
                                                                        
  (In thousands)                                                        
  _______________________________________________________________________
                 |                     |                                
                 |        Level        |      Over-the-month change     
                 |---------------------|---------------------------------
   Year and month|    As    |          |    As    |          |          
                 |previously|    As    |previously|    As    | Difference
                 |published |  revised |published |  revised |          
  _______________|__________|__________|__________|__________|___________
                 |          |          |          |          |          
       2009      |          |          |          |          |          
  January........| 134,333  |  133,549 |   -741   |  -779    |   -38    
  February.......| 133,652  |  132,823 |   -681   |  -726    |   -45    
  March..........| 133,000  |  132,070 |   -652   |  -753    |  -101    
  April..........| 132,481  |  131,488 |   -519   |  -582    |   -63    
  May............| 132,178  |  131,141 |   -303   |  -347    |   -44    
  June...........| 131,715  |  130,637 |   -463   |  -504    |   -41    
  July...........| 131,411  |  130,293 |   -304   |  -344    |   -40    
  August.........| 131,257  |  130,082 |   -154   |  -211    |   -57    
  September......| 131,118  |  129,857 |   -139   |  -225    |   -86    
  October........| 130,991  |  129,633 |   -127   |  -224    |   -97    
  November.......| 130,995  |  129,697 |      4   |    64    |    60    
  December (p)...| 130,910  |  129,547 |    -85   |  -150    |   -65    
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
     p = preliminary.                                                   




     Adjustments to Population Estimates for the Household Survey

Effective with data for January 2010, updated population estimates have been
used in the household survey. Population estimates for the household survey
are developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. Each year, the Census Bureau updates
the estimates to reflect new information and assumptions about the growth of
the population during the decade. The change in population reflected in the
new estimates results primarily from adjustments for net international migra-
tion, updated vital statistics and other information, and some methodological
changes in the estimation process.

In accordance with usual practice, BLS will not revise the official household
survey estimates for December 2009 or earlier months. To show the impact of
the population adjustment, however, differences in selected December 2009 labor
force series based on the old and new population estimates are shown in table B.
The adjustment decreased the estimated size of the civilian noninstitutional
population in December by 258,000, the civilian labor force by 249,000, and
employment by 243,000; the new population estimates had a negligible impact
on unemployment rates and other percentage estimates. Data users are cautioned
that these annual population adjustments affect the comparability of household
data series over time. Estimates of large levels, such as total labor force and
employment, are impacted most. Table C shows the effect of the introduction of
new population estimates on the changes in selected labor force measures between
December 2009 and January 2010. More detailed information on the population
adjustments and their effect on national labor force estimates are available at
www.bls.gov/cps/cps10adj.pdf.



Table B.  Effect of the updated population controls on December 2009 esti- 
mates by sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, not seasonally ad-   
justed                                                                     
                                                                           
(Numbers in thousands)                                                     
                                                                           
____________________________________________________________________________
                     |     |     |      |      |        |       |          
                     |     |     |      |      |  Black |       |          
                     |     |     |      |      |    or  |       |  Hispanic
      Category       |Total| Men | Women| White| African| Asian | or Latino
                     |     |     |      |      |American|       | ethnicity
                     |     |     |      |      |        |       |          
_____________________|_____|_____|______|______|________|_______|___________
                     |     |     |      |      |        |       |          
Civilian noninstitu- |     |     |      |      |        |       |          
tional population...|-258 |-168 |  -90 | -274 |     56 |  -31  |   -212   
  Civilian labor     |     |     |      |      |        |       |          
    force............|-249 |-185 |  -64 | -235 |     31 |  -42  |   -169   
   Employed..........|-243 |-179 |  -64 | -222 |     22 |  -40  |   -160   
   Unemployed........|  -5 |  -6 |    0 |  -13 |      9 |   -2  |     -8   
    Unemployment     |     |     |      |      |        |       |          
     rate............|  .0 |  .0 |   .0 |   .0 |     .0 |   .0  |     .1   
_____________________|_____|_____|______|______|________|_______|___________
                                                                           
   NOTE:  Detail for men and women may not sum to totals because of round- 
ing.  Estimates for the above race groups (white, black or African American,
and Asian) do not sum to totals because data are not presented for all     
races.  Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be 
of any race.                                                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
Table C.  December 2009-January 2010 changes in selected labor force       
measures, with adjustments for population control effects                  
                                                                           
(Numbers in thousands)                                                     
                                                                           
____________________________________________________________________________
                                     |           |            |            
                                     |           |            |  Dec.-Jan. 
                                     | Dec.-Jan. |    2010    |   change,  
                                     |  change,  | population |  after re- 
              Category               |    as     |   control  |  moving the
                                     | published |   effect   |  population
                                     |           |            |   control  
                                     |           |            |  effect (1)
_____________________________________|___________|____________|_____________
                                     |           |            |            
Civilian noninstitutional population.|     -92   |    -258    |     166    
  Civilian labor force...............|     111   |    -249    |     360    
    Participation rate...............|      .1   |      .0    |      .1    
   Employed..........................|     541   |    -243    |     784    
    Employment-population ratio......|      .2   |      .0    |      .2    
   Unemployed........................|    -430   |      -5    |    -425    
    Unemployment rate................|     -.3   |      .0    |     -.3    
                                     |           |            |            
_____________________________________|___________|____________|_____________
                                                                           
   1 This December-January change is calculated by subtracting the population
control effect from the published over-the-month change.