Posts Tagged ‘job’
Friday, July 6th, 2018
Article source: ConstructConnect
June’s Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records a pickup in total jobs of +213,000 in the latest month.
But that +213,000 compares June’s level of total jobs with a revised figure for May. May’s figure is now being estimated higher by +37,000 vis à vis what was reported for May a month ago.
Therefore, June’s level of total U.S. jobs is now +250,000 (i.e., the sum of 213,000 and 37,000) versus what was reported by the BLS a month ago. That’s an increase in total employment of a quarter of a million jobs.
The gain in U.S. total employment through the first half of this year has been 1.3 million jobs. In H1 of last year, the increase was 1.1 million.
The monthly average climb so far in 2018 has been +215,000. Through the first six months of 2017, the monthly average increment was also good, but it was a somewhat lower +184,000.
Expressed another way, the monthly average jobs jump in first-half of 2018 has been +17% compared with the first-half of 2017.
The unemployment rate in June fell back slightly to 4.0% from 3.8% in May. The retreat was because the continuation of strong employment prospects has caused a month-to-month uptick in the participation rate, to 62.9% from 62.7%.
Among industrial sub-sectors, the three standouts for jobs improvement in June were: ‘education and health services’, +54,000; ‘professional and business services’, +50,000; and in a long-time-coming and pleasantly-welcome development, ‘manufacturing’, +36,000.
The leap in manufacturing employment was almost all within the durable goods realm, +32,000.
And within durable goods, hiring was most intense in ‘motor vehicles and parts’, +12,000; ‘fabricated metal products’, +7,000; and ‘computer and electronic products’, +5,000.
The +54,000 jog upwards in ‘educational and health services’ employment was comprised of ‘educational services’, +19,000; ‘health care’, +25,000; and ‘social assistance’, +10,000.
Staffing in ‘professional and business services’ (+50,000) received boosts from ‘temporary help services’, +9,000; ‘architectural and engineering services’, +7,000; and ‘computer systems design and related design’, +6,000.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, ConstructConnect, Construction industry, Economic, Economics, Economist, Economy, employ, employment, Growth, job, jobless, jobs, money
Comments Off on U.S. June Total Jobs Higher by One-quarter Million Versus Previously Reported May
Tuesday, May 29th, 2018
Article source: ConstructConnect
Aficionados of horror movies know there are certain things – e.g., the proximity of Frankenstein’s monster – that will cause ‘the villagers’ to pick up their pitchforks and charge into the woods for a confrontation. It’s widely understood that the ‘villagers’ are you and me.
Such works may be escapist fiction, but while basic safety and security will always be a primary concern in real life, there are other terrors in non-fiction that are equally likely to incite our concern and ire and they’re mainly economic – e.g., a scarcity of jobs or sky-high prices.
With respect to inflation and rapidly increasing price levels, this article looks at three products that for many people are essentials – rent, gasoline and coffee.
Charts 1 through 6 show the year-over-year percentage changes of the rent, gasoline and coffee sub-indices within the broader Consumer Price Index (CPI) data produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Statistics Canada.
In the U.S., media headlines immediately prior to Memorial Day Weekend carried the message that travelers taking to the roads were about to discover that a fill-up at the gas pump would cost them nearly one-third more than a year ago.
The stronger U.S. economy has been contributing to more demand for gasoline. According to the website, www.gasbuddy.com/charts, the average price of gasoline in America is now $3.00 USD per gallon. Last year at the same time, it was $2.40. The increase has been +25%.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, Canada, coffee, Economic, Economics, Economist, Economy, gasoline, job, jobs, Labor, market, material, money, oil, real estate, rent, residential
Comments Off on Monitoring the Cost of 3 of Life’s Essentials: Gasoline, Rent and Coffee
Friday, May 25th, 2018
Article source: ConstructConnect
Tables 1 and 2 accompanying this article set out the latest (March 2018) year-over-year jobs growth and unemployment rate rankings for the 51 largest (by population) U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). The raw data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The objective for any city is that its jobs growth be faster rather than slower and that its unemployment rate be lower rather than higher. The total U.S. pace of employment gain has most recently been +1.5% year over year, while the national jobless rate has dropped to 3.9%.
The three U.S. cities with the best combined results from Tables 1 and 2 are: Austin, TX; San Jose, CA; and Orlando, FL. In March of this year, Austin was first for jobs growth (+3.6%) and tied for sixth with respect to unemployment rate (3.1%). Orlando was second for jobs growth (+3.5%) and tied for ninth with respect to unemployment rate (3.3%). San Jose was ninth for jobs growth (+2.7%), but tied for first with respect to unemployment rate (2.7%).
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, Austin, ConstructConnect, Economic, Economist, Economy, employ, employment, Growth, interest rate, job, jobs, Labor, orlando, san jose, US
Comments Off on Austin, San Jose and Orlando Lead U.S. Large City Labor Markets
Friday, May 4th, 2018
Article source: ConstructConnect
April’s Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) highlights a month-to-month increase in total U.S. jobs of +164,000. But that figure understates the employment improvement, since March’s level was revised upwards by +30,000.
Therefore, the accumulated gain in April was +194,000 jobs.
The average monthly increase in total U.S. employment through the first one-third of this year has been +200,000. In 2017, during the same January-to-April time frame, the average monthly climb was +117,000. The year-over-year increase in the monthly average is +13.0%.
The number that really pops out from the latest data release on the U.S. labor market, however, is the unemployment rate. Prior to April, it had been sitting at 4.1% for six months in a row.
In April, it finally dropped below 4.0% to stand at 3.9%. A 3.9% jobless figure is the lowest since December 2000, almost two decades ago.
Furthermore, there is another measure of the unemployment rate calculated by the BLS that is broader in scope and habitually higher. Its official title is U-6 and it includes individuals only marginally attached to the labor force, plus those who are engaged part-time but would prefer to be occupied full-time.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, Connect, ConstructConnect, Construction, Construction industry, Construction services, Economic, Economist, employment, Growth, job, jobs, market, money, US
Comments Off on An Eye-Popping 3.9% Unemployment Rate in April’s U.S. Jobs Report
Monday, April 16th, 2018
Article source: ConstructConnect
Despite U.S. construction continuing to record a total activity level below potential, the sector should be receiving more bouquets for the bigger role it is playing in the economy overall.
Historical data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records that in the year 2000, the number of manufacturing jobs in America’s economy was 17.3 million. The same source records that the number of construction jobs at the turn of the century was 6.8 million.
In 2017 versus 2000, the number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. was down by 28% to 12.4 million, while the number of construction jobs was ahead by 3%, to 7.0 million.
The clearest way to illustrate the rising importance of construction relative to manufacturing, at least from an employment standpoint, is to express their relationship in terms of a ratio. In 2000, there were four jobs in construction for every ten jobs in manufacturing. Now, there almost six on-site jobs for every ten production-line positions.
More dramatic still has been the shift in favor of construction work in Canada. In 2000, there were 2.2 million Canadian manufacturing jobs compared with 800,000 in construction. By 2017, manufacturing employment had retreated by -23%, to 1.7 million, while construction employment had surged by +75%, to 1.4 million.
(more…)
Tags: AEC, Alex Carrick, build, ConstructConnect, Construction, Construction industry, Construction services, Economist, Economy, job, jobs, Labor, US
Comments Off on 11 Mid-April Economic Nuggets
Tuesday, March 13th, 2018
The three maps in this infographic focus attention on the 2017-over-2016 percentage changes in homebuilding activity in America’s states. The Census Bureau does not publish home starts statistics at the state level, but it does compile and release residential permits numbers.
Therefore, the shadings in the maps are based on permits data (in units). The words ‘permits’ and ‘starts’ will be used interchangeably in the following commentary.
The total number of new home permits in the U.S. in 2017 was +6% compared with 2016. As the ‘legend-key’ sets out, individual states with percentage increases over +6% are shaded in green − for warmth.
As the shading moves from lighter green to darker green, the percentage increases move higher.
States shaded in blue − for chillier − had year-over-year increases that were +6% or less. The darkest shades of blue are reserved for states where there were significant 2017-over-2016 declines.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, Economist, Economy, election, employ, employment, job, jobless, jobs, market
Comments Off on 3 Maps Showing 2017 versus 2016 Housing Starts in American States
Monday, November 13th, 2017
Article source: ConstructConnect
As shown in Graphs 1, 2 and 3, the most widely known and discussed U.S. stock market indices – Dow Jones Industrial (DJI), S&P 500 and NASDAQ – all set new record highs in July.
On a year-over-year basis, the DJI at the close of last month was +18.8%; the S&P 500 was +13.6%; and NASDAQ especially stood out with a gain of +23.0%.
Just as remarkable have been the improvements in those three indices relative to their prior peaks.
Since its previous summit in October 2007 (13,930), the DJI is +57.2%.
Since October 2007 (1,549), the S&P 500 is +59.5%.
Also since October 2007 (2,859), when it managed a mini-peak, NASDAQ is presently +122.0%. NASDAQ is even up substantially (+35.2%) relative to its ‘Mt. Everest’ of peaks in February 2000 (4,696), when the ‘dot.com boom’ was in full swing.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, construct, ConstructConnect, Economist, Economy, job, New York Stock Exchange, stock, stock market
Comments Off on Stock Market Prices Playing Sidekick Role in a ‘Buddy Movie’
Monday, November 6th, 2017
Article source: ConstructConnect
Chart 1 of this article sets out, for each of Canada’s provinces, the most recent year-over-year growth rates for seven demographic and economic variables – population, housing starts, total jobs, hourly earnings, weekly earnings, retail sales and export sales.
An eighth measure is also included, the unemployment rate, but it is a ‘level’ rather than a growth rate.
To compare how the provinces are doing relative to each other, Chart 2 rearranges the results from Chart 1 in a ‘heat’ graphic. The methodology is as follows.
In each column of Chart 1, when the percent change number is equal to or higher than the Canada-wide figure, the relevant ‘cell’ is highlighted in yellow (for ‘warm’).
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, build, Canada, construct, ConstructConnect, Economist, Economy, employ, Growth, job, provinces
Comments Off on Ranking the Economic Performance of Canada’s Provinces – Heat Graph
Thursday, October 26th, 2017
Article source: ConstructConnect
The U.S. total employment increase since the Great Recession has been quite strong. Most type-of-job categories have bounced back with remarkable resiliency.
There are seven areas within the economy, however, where the jobs improvement has gone well beyond most others. Their employment levels have displayed almost nothing but ascending progressions.
They even moved through 2008-09’s Big Dip relatively unscathed.
Due to their upbeat story, I thought it would be fun to put the seven on display in this article.
Few of the seven will come as a surprise. Most have already received much media attention.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, construct, ConstructConnect, Economy, employ, employment, job
Comments Off on Seven Surefire U.S. Job Creators
Monday, October 23rd, 2017
Article source: ConstructConnect
Hurricane Harvey, which first struck southern Texas on Saturday August 25, and Hurricane Irma, which reached landfall in the Florida Keys on Sunday September 10, will ‘muddy’ the economic statistics for months to come. Estimates of the physical damage range widely, with $200 billion as the current outer limit.
Homes, shopping malls, schools, churches, fast-food outlets, abandoned motor vehicles and fragile vegetation were all victimized, to varying degrees, by storm surges, flooding and crushing winds. In the aftermath, restoring power and ensuring the safety of roads and bridges have been the immediate concerns.
Many building material suppliers and contractors, working together with insurance companies and government relief bodies, will be immersed in lengthy rebuilding efforts. The labor availability problem will become more acute.
(more…)
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, build, construct, ConstructConnect, Economist, Economy, job
Comments Off on 13 Mid-September Economic Nuggets
|
