Payroll employment rises 117,000 in July; unemployment rate changes little (9.1%)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- JULY 2011

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 117,000 in July, and the unemployment
rate was little changed at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, retail trade, manufacturing,
and mining. Government employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.1
percent) changed little in July. Since April, the unemployment rate has shown
little definitive movement. The labor force, at 153.2 million, was little
changed in July. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men(9.0 percent),
adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (25.0 percent), whites (8.1 percent),
blacks (15.9 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed little or no change
in July. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted.
(See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 387,000 in
July, mostly offsetting an increase in the prior month. The number of long-term
unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over), at 6.2 million, changed little
over the month and accounted for 44.4 percent of the unemployed. (See
table A-12.)



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

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The BLS server was really getting hammered this morning. A lot of people are waiting for this report. I had my comments, which you are now reading, prepared in advance, and all I needed to make this post was the headline, a few paragraphs, and the link to the BLS report. No dice. It is now 9:01, and I still can't get in. Those who could get in are already reporting, "Unemployment rate dips, economy adds 117K jobs," and "Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Dips to 9.1 Percent."

9:25 - we're up and running. That only took an hour.

Monthly Employment Reports

The large print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.

A Du'er pointed out a few months back that, if I'm going to post the link to the press release, I should include the link to all the tables that provide additional ways of examining the data. Specifically, I should post a link to "Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization." Table A-15 includes those who are not considered unemployed, on the grounds that they have become discouraged about the prospects of finding a job and have given up looking. Here are those links.

Employment Situation

Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

From the February 10, 2011, "DOL Newsletter":

How does BLS determine the unemployment rate and the number of jobs that were added each month?

BLS uses two different surveys to get these numbers. The "household survey," or Current Population Survey (CPS), involves asking people, from about 60,000 households, a series of questions to assess each person in the household's activities including work and searching for work. Their responses give us the unemployment rate. The "establishment survey," or Current Employment Statistics (CES), surveys 140,000 employers about how many people they have on their payrolls. These results determine the number of jobs being added or lost.

[stockholmer]

1. already posted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4948586

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website Crashes

Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website Crashes

Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website Crashes
Site Down For Nearly 1 Hour
By Aaron Smith

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics website crashed Friday morning, and a highly anticipated monthly report on payrolls and the unemployment rate was not available online for about an hour.
....

The BLS website updated the payroll report, which proved a surprising bright spot, at about 9:30 a.m.

"The reason the website was down is that the service was overwhelmed by the number of inquires," said BLS spokeswoman Stacey Standish. "We're working to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. There was a lot of interest in the report."

The report was the subject of intense investor focus, partly because of the ongoing concern about the job market, and also because it followed a bloody day on Wall Street.
....

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