employment

Initial Claims for Unemployment Just Won't Budge, 382,000 for Week of September 15th , 2012

Initial unemployment claims continue to show never ending U.S. worker malaise. Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on September 15th, 2012 were 382,000,. While the DOL reports this as an decrease of 3,000 from last week's revised figure of 385,000, last week was actually revised upwards by 3,000, so one might look at this as no change.

There were 3.5 Unemployed People per Job Opening in July 2012

The BLS JOLTS report, or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey describes the pathetic job market. Once again, little has changed and the July 2012 statistics show there were 3.49 official unemployed persons for every position available*. There were 3.664 million job openings for July 2012, a 1.56% decrease from the previous month of 3,722,000. Openings are still way below pre-recession levels of 4.7 million. Job openings have increased 68% from their July 2009 Mariana Trench trough, yet real hiring is a distant memory. There were 1.8 persons per job opening at the start of the recession, December 2007. The job market is horrific and worse than last month. Below is the graph of July official unemployed, 12.794 million, per job opening.

 

job openings per official unemployed july 2012

 

How Many Jobs Are Needed to Keep Up with Population Growth?

The press quotes all sorts of figures for the number of monthly job gains needed to keep up with population growth. We see numbers like 80,000, 100,000, 125,000 and 175,000 thrown around like statistical snow as the number of jobs needed each month just to keep up. What's the right one? How many jobs are needed each month just to keep up with population growth?

BLS Employment Report Shows 96,000 Jobs and an Unemployment Rate of 8.1% for August 2012

The August 2012 BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 96,000. Even worse news, the last two months of job gains were revised down. July's gains are now 141,000, revised from 163,000 payroll jobs and June is a now a measly 45,000 jobs, also revised down from 64,000.

ADP Employment Report - 201,000 Private Sector Jobs for August 2012

ADP, released their proprietary private payrolls jobs report for August 2012. This month ADP is reporting a gain of 201,000 private sector jobs. July 2012 was revised up by 10,000 to 173,000 private payrolls gains. In contrast, the BLS reported 163,000 private sector jobs for July 2012.

Displaced Worker Report Shows Not Enough People Are Landing New Jobs

The BLS released their displaced workers survey and the results paint a dark and foreboding picture for the American worker. Of the people who lost their jobs through offshore outsourcing, plant closures, business failures and layoffs during 2009-2011, by January 2012 only 56% of them had gotten another job. These are people who held the job they lost three years or longer and there were a whopping 6.12 million people in this category.

What's more disturbing, as if that's not enough, is the age breakdown of displaced workers who were in a job three years or longer. While the job losses seem reasonably evenly distributed, those finding other jobs appear not to be, as shown in the below four pie charts.

displacedworkersage

ADP Employment Report - 163,000 Private Sector Jobs for July 2012

ADP, released their proprietary private payrolls jobs report. This month ADP is reporting a gain of 163,000 private sector jobs in July. June 2012 was revised down by 4,000 to 172,000 additional private payrolls. In contrast, the BLS reported 84,000 private sector jobs for June 2012.

Job Study Tells a Terrible Tale for U.S. Workers

The BLS released a longitude survey, which tracks the last of the pack of baby boomers and their jobs over 30 years. One the most damning findings is how many people middle aged are lasting in a job. When late baby boomers were in their 40's, a third of them had jobs which didn't last a year and almost 70% of 'em were out of a job in less than five years.

Yet Another Abysmal Jobs Report Shows Only 80,000 Jobs for June 2012

The June 2012 BLS unemployment report is another abysmal jobs report. Total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were only 80,000. May's payrolls were revised up, from 69,000 to 77,000. April job gains were revised down, again, from 77,000 to only 68,000. The below graph shows the monthly change in nonfarm payrolls employment.

 

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