BLS Employment Situation: July

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate for the month of July climbed to 5.7%. Employment continued to show an upward trend in health care, while employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, as well as in the service-providing industries. According to BLS, the employment trend within the health care industry saw, over the month, a gain of 33,000 jobs: in particular, job gains were seen in ambulatory health care services (21,000), and in hospitals (10,000). The industry has added 368,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Employment also continued to grow in mining adding 10,000 jobs and has expanded by 45% since reaching a low in April 2003: most of this increase occurring in oil and gas extraction as well as in support activities for this industry. Conversely, employment in construction was down by 22,000 in July. Since its employment peak in September 2006, construction has seen a decrease of 557,000 jobs, with nearly 75% of the decline occurring since October 2007. As noted by BLS, nearly all of the July employment decrease in this industry came among specialty trade contractors (-20,000), with both the residential and nonresidential components contributing to the decline. In reference to the July employment situation report, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao states, “While we are concerned about continued job losses, the overall economic picture, including the second quarter GDP’s increase of nearly two percent, demonstrates that our economy continues to work its way through current challenges. The resiliency of the economy given all the shocks we have sustained is noteworthy. The long term fundamentals of the economy remain solid. Now is not the time to raise taxes and take more money out of the pockets of workers when they need it most.”
Article courtesy of Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends providing leading edge insights and strategies for the recruiting professional

Originally posted by Candice A