Payroll employment rises by 192,000 in February; unemployment rate changes little (8.9%)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- FEBRUARY 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 192,000 in February, and the unemployment
rate was little changed at 8.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics re-
ported today. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and
business services, health care, and transportation and warehousing.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons (13.7 million) and the unemployment rate (8.9
percent) changed little in February. The labor force was about unchanged over
the month. The jobless rate was down by 0.9 percentage point since November 2010.
(See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.7 percent),
adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (23.9 percent), whites (8.0 percent), blacks
(15.3 percent), and Hispanics (11.6 percent) showed little or no change in February.
The jobless rate for Asians was 6.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables
A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, at 8.3 million,
continued to trend down in February and has fallen by 1.2 million over the past 12
months. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more)
was 6.0 million and accounted for 43.9 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11
and A-12.)



Read more: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

---

I'm adding a link to this table to show length of unemployment:

Table A-12. Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment

and to this one to show alternative measures of labor underutilization:

Alternative measures of labor underutilization

Measures U-5 and U-6 include "discouraged workers" and those "marginally attached to the labor force." When I posted the unemployment figures for January a month ago, a DUer suggested that these measures not be ignored, as they may be more reflective of reality than the figure that makes all the headlines. I think him for that.

The 192,000 figure is in the lower end of the expected range. The low estimate was 180,000, and the high estimate was 220,000.

[snappyturtle]

1. Bookmarking to read later....thanks for posting. nt

[jschurchin]

2. By far my favorite pundit comment so far

February Weather
Nationwide, temperatures during the week of the February employment survey were near normal.

Can anyone explain what does weather have to do with job's? I never got this part, and still don't.

It's 90 in Phoenix, business isn't hiring because it's too hot, lol.

[hugo_from_TN]

6. I think in bad winter weather some newly unemployed

arent' able to make it to the employment office to file claims. Once the weather improves they file.

[pinqy]

8. But the UE rate has nothing to do with claims

The Employment situation report released today comes from 2 surveys...an establishment survey that measures non-farm payroll jobs, and a household survey that measures unemployment. Claims are irrelevant.

[4lbs]

7. Well, bad weather means some jobs won't function in that weather.

Construction usually doesn't happen when it rains or snows. So, those construction workers don't work, and there are no "vacation days" or "sick days" to take. They stay home, without pay.

When it snows or rains a lot, people usually don't go out as much, meaning service sector jobs, which are often day-to-day, decrease temporarily. Managers in restaurants, stores, and hotels tell some of their hourly wage workers to stay home (without pay) instead of coming in to work, because they don't need as many of them to serve the much fewer clients due to the weather.

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Damn it." - Republicons for FAIL (R)

[JaneQPublic]

4. Start the countdown...

...until the GOPers claim credit for this, attributing any and all improvement to Speaker Boehner's "leadership" on jobs and the "actions" of the teabaggers.

It's the Repuke way: Claim credit for all that is good and deny blame for all that is bad.

[OnlinePoker]

5. Unemployment rate has dropped from 9.7% in Feb 2010 to 8.9% in Feb 2011

Easy to do when you decide to drop over 2 million people from the labor force statistics. Just because they can't find a job doesn't mean they don't want a job. Numbers employed have gone up by 900,000 year over year, but non-institutional employable (over 16) numbers have gone up almost 2 million.

[No Elephants]

9. I wonder what the rate would be if measured by 1960 standards--maybe 25%?

If you don't like your measurements--no pr0blem. Just re-define "inch."