It’s back-to-school season again, which means more opportunities to find employment while your children are at school. Staff Solve strives to assist employers and job seekers with information and process hiring, but the overall economic picture of employment trends in the United States and possible factors involved.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 315,000 in August, making the unemployment rate rise 0.2% to an overall 3.7%. The number of unemployed persons increased by 344,000 to 6.0 million. In July, these measures had returned to their levels in February 2020, prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers increased by 188,000 to 1.4 million, while the number of persons on temporary layoff was unchanged at 782,000. The number of long-term unemployed, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, was little changed at 1.1 million, which accounted for 18.8% of all unemployed persons. 

The labor force participation rate increased by 0.3% over the month to 62.4%, and the employment-population ratio was little changed at 60.1%. The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons was little changed at 4.1 million. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job declined by 361,000 to 5.5 million. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of persons marginally attached to the labor force was little changed. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them were little changed from the prior month.

Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade. Professional and business services added 68,000 jobs and within the industry,  employment gains occurred in computer systems design and related services (+14,000), management and technical consulting services (+13,000), architectural and engineering services (+10,000), and scientific research and development services (+6,000). However, legal services did experience a loss of jobs (-9,000). Health care employment rose by 48,000, with job gains in offices of physicians (+15,000), hospitals (+15,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+12,000). Retail trade added 44,000 jobs, with employment increased in general merchandise stores (+15,000), food and beverage stores (+15,000), health and personal care stores (+10,000), and building material and garden supply stores (+7,000). 

Employment in furniture and home furnishings stores continued to trend down (-3,000). Manufacturing employment continued to trend up in August (+22,000), with gains concentrated in durable goods industries (+19,000). Financial activities rose by 17,000, wholesale trade by 15,000, and mining by 6,000, which is reflecting a gain in support activities for mining (+7,000). Employment in leisure and hospitality changed little in August (+31,000), following average monthly gains of 90,000 in the first 7 months of the year. In August, employment showed little change in other major industries, including construction, transportation and warehousing, information, other services, and government.

For August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $32.36. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 5.2 percent. The average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 10 cents, or 0.4%, to $27.68. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours. In manufacturing, the average workweek for all employees was little changed at 40.3 hours, and overtime held at 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.1 hour to 33.9 hours. 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down by 105,000, from +398,000 to +293,000, and the change for July was revised down by 2,000, from +528,000 to +526,000. With these revisions, employment in June and July combined is 107,000 lower than previously reported. Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.

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