Friday, August 06, 2010

Unemployment Report Shows 131,000 Jobs Lost In July

The figures are out from July and the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics has issued their economic news release:

Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 131,000 in July, and the unem-
ployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Federal government employment fell, as 143,000 temporary workers hired for the decennial census completed their work. Private-sector payroll employment edged up by 71,000.


According to the release 44.9 percent of the unemployed are considered "long-term unemployed", meaning they have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, that figure comes in at 6.6 million who are considered "long-term" unemployed.


The average unemployment figure of 9.5 percent remains unchanged and states above the "average" are listed below.

Alabama- 10.3 percent unemployment
Arizona- 9.6 percent unemployment
California- 12.3 percent unemployment
Washington DC- 10.0 percent unemployment
Florida- 11.4 percent unemployment
Georgia- 10 percent unemployment
Illinois 10.4 percent unemployment
Indiana 10.1 percent unemployment
Kentucky- 10.0 Percent unemployment
Michigan- 13.2 percent unemployment
Mississippi- 11.0 percent unemployment
Nevada- 14.2 percent unemployment
North Carolina- 10.0 percent unemployment
Ohio- 10.5 percent unemployment
Oregon- 10.5 percent unemployment
Rhode Island- 12.0 percent unemployment
South Carolina- 10.7 percent unemployment
Tennessee- 10.1 percent unemployment

(All figures from United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Keep in mind the 9.5 percent unemployment figure is misleading because ( according to the release) 2.6 million unemployed are not counted as unemployed because they did not search for work in the 4 weeks proceeding the survey.

About 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in July, an increase of 340,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were avail- able 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.


More at WSJ and NYT.

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