Posts Tagged ‘jobs’
Friday, September 3rd, 2021
Article source: ConstructConnect
August’s Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says that the total number of jobs in the U.S. economy rose by +235,000 in the latest month. A gain of nearly a quarter of a million jobs may sound like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s rather tame.
Compare it with the month prior’s performance. July was originally reported at +943,000 jobs. That figure has now been revised higher to +1.053 million.
Job creation in August became bogged down. It was probably due to the coronavirus making a comeback, by way of the Delta variant, and threatening a fourth wave heading into the Fall.
The best illustration of how hiring tapped out in August can be found in the ‘leisure and hospitality’ sector. The economy-wide staffing change with bars and restaurants and hotels/motels in the latest month was zero.
Nevertheless, it’s encouraging to note that the year over year change in ‘leisure and hospitality’ employment is a strong +17.4%.
Total employment is now +4.3% y/y; construction employment is +2.7%.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Economist, Economy, employ, employment, jobless, jobs, Labor, market
Comments Off on Little Meat on the Bones of the August U.S. Jobs Report
Tuesday, July 6th, 2021
Article source: ConstructConnect
This article consists of seven cluster charts of four graphs each, showing monthly employment levels over the past 20-plus years in 28 sub-sectors of the U.S. economy.
In every sub-sector, there were pandemic-related downturns in jobs counts in the Spring of last year. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see where jobs growth is on a long-term upward path, not to be deterred by a temporary setback.
On the flip side, there are industries where jobs prospects are clearly flagging.
The types of jobs covered are based in: resources; manufacturing; logistics and environmental; desk work (i.e., office-based); institutional (schools and hospitals) and real estate; accommodation, hospitality and entertainment; and ‘new wave’ (security services, couriers, pharma and software publishing).
There are text boxes accompanying each cluster which set out the highlights from the four workplaces featured. But there are some further observations to be made.
In the ‘Resources’ cluster, none of the four sub-sectors is showing a trend towards long-term jobs growth. Rather, the opposite appears to be the case.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Economy, employment, Growth, Hospitality & Entertainment, Institutional, job, jobless, jobs, Logistics & Environmental, manufacturing, market, New Wave, Office-based
Comments Off on Exiting the Pandemic, Where the Jobs Are
Tuesday, July 6th, 2021
Article source: ConstructConnect
June was an excellent month for overall net jobs creation in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Total employment in the nation rose by +850,000 positions.
The construction sector, however, was left out of the bonanza. Staffing among the ‘hard hat’ contingent contracted by -7,000 jobs. The major plus and minus employment shifts within construction occurred with residential specialty contractors (i.e., sub-contractors), +13,000 jobs; nonresidential specialty contractors, -15,000 jobs; and heavy and civil general contractors, -11,000 jobs.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, construct, Construction, Construction industry, jobless, jobs, Labor, lumber, market, recovery, US
Comments Off on Construction Left Out of June’s U.S. Big Jobs Advance
Friday, June 4th, 2021
Big Grin Greets Big Pickup in Youth Employment
In any pre-pandemic month, May’s U.S. total jobs count gain of +559,000 would have registered as outstanding. And I don’t want to belittle the achievement, especially since it soundly beats the previous month’s figure of +278,000.
But as can be seen from Graph 1, even a swing of plus more than half a million appears as only a blip in the context of the month-to-month movements over the past year and a quarter.
The seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate in May improved to 5.8% from 6.1% in April. The not seasonally adjusted (NSA) unemployment rate downshifted to 5.5% from 5.7% the month previously.
Young people are finding employment once again. The SA unemployment rate for individuals aged 16 to 19 brightened to 9.5%. And yes, ‘brightened to 9.5%’ is appropriate wording given that a year ago the SA unemployment rate for those just under aged 20 was 30.7%.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Economic, Economist, Economy, employment, Growth, job, jobless, jobs, Labor, market
Comments Off on U.S. Half Million Jobs Increase in May still only Drop in Bucket
Wednesday, May 19th, 2021
Article source: ConstructConnect
In this, the latest mid-month Nuggets report, I’ll focus on three major and interlocking (or interdependent) economic indicators: retail sales, inflation and housing starts.
Retail Sales
My world of economic analysis is being rocked in unprecedented fashion. Maybe ‘shattered’ is the better word.
For example, I’m used to studying year-over-year percentage changes to gain an understanding of what is going on in certain segments of the economy. Retail sales is a perfect example. In current dollar terms (i.e., not adjusted for inflation), they used to range from flat as a lower boundary to maybe +7% y/y as an upper limit.
When the coronavirus first struck in the Spring of last year, retail sales plummeted, yielding double-digit percentage-change drops for ‘total’ and many shopkeeper sub-categories. Now, a year later, the rebound that’s underway is being vastly exaggerated by the comparison with 2020’s deeply distressed results. Looking at April 2021/April 2020, we’re dealing with ‘funhouse’ numbers on the upside.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Economist, Economy, employment, Growth, Housing, inflation, job, jobs, Labor, retail
Comments Off on Mid-May Economic Nuggets Report with Focus on Retail Sales, Inflation and Housing Starts
Friday, May 8th, 2020
Article source: ConstructConnect
Unemployment Rate at 14.7% could have been Worse
It could have been worse. I thought it would be worse. Next month’s figure will probably be worse.
I’m speaking of April’s U.S. seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate, as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It came in at 14.7%, after being just 4.4% in March.
If you’re looking for a figure that’s jaw-dropping, turn to the total number of jobs in the country. From March to April, there was a decline of 20.5 million.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Canada, construct, Construction, Construction industry, coronavirus, COVID-19, Economic, Economics, Economist, job, jobless, jobs, money, recovery, residential, shareknowledge, US
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Monday, September 30th, 2019
Article source: ConstructConnect
The U.S. economic recovery and expansion has now lasted more than a decade, which is historically ‘long in the tooth.’ With each passing month, and despite how well the major stock market indices may be doing, worries about a slowdown or next recession become harder to suppress.
The following are some of the yellow flags pointing to potholes in the road ahead. When warranted, countervailing positives have been added.
(1) Running Out of Track for the Stimulus Train
At present, it’s the absence of something special to look forward to that is significant. Heading into 2018, executives throughout the U.S. were eagerly anticipating the steep cut in the corporate tax rate, from 35% to 21%, and several other business-friendly initiatives (i.e., incentives to repatriate money from overseas, etc.). There’s nothing implying a similar upbeat impact on the horizon today.
The Trump administration has floated the idea of a big middle-class income tax cut. A formidable stumbling block, however, has emerged. The estimated federal deficit in the current fiscal year, made worse by the corporate tax cut, will reach -$1 trillion. Washington’s total debt is -$22 trillion and climbing. Personal income tax relief would most likely further exacerbate an already troubling situation.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, brexit, capex, Deficit, Economic, Economics, Economist, Economy, geopolitical, interest rate, jobs, Labor, population drop, stimulus, Weather
Comments Off on 13 Yellow Flags ‒ Warning Signs Concerning the U.S. Economy
Friday, July 5th, 2019
Article source: ConstructConnect
Strong U.S. Jobs Growth has Interest Rate Implications
The U.S. total number of jobs in June shot up by +224,000, according to the latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A slight rise in the ‘participation rate’, to 62.9% from 62.8% in May, caused June’s unemployment rate to climb a notch, from 3.6% to 3.7%. A 3.7% level of unemployment is still remarkably tight.
Everyone’s keeping a close eye out for signs of a weakening U.S. economy that would warrant an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Graph 1). They won’t find justification for such a move in June’s jobs numbers. May’s lackluster +75,000 addition had pointed to trouble possibly brewing, but that’s become old news. It’s been superseded by fresh buoyancy.
It should be pointed out, however, that the jobs performances in some sectors have taken an interesting turn of late. This will be examined in the next section.
Worth noting, also, is that despite June’s strength, average monthly job creation in the U.S. so far in 2019 has been +172,000. With half a year having already sped by, +172,000 is a decline of more than a quarter (-26.8%) compared with January-to-June 2018’s average of +235,000.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Canada, ConstructConnect, Construction industry, Construction services, Economist, Economy, employment, Growth, jobless, jobs
Comments Off on June Jobs Reports: U.S. Bounces Back; Canada Weak M/M but Strong Ytd
Thursday, June 13th, 2019
U.S. Jobs +75,000 in May, but Flat After Revisions
Article source: ConstructConnect
The latest Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records a gain of +75,000 in total U.S. jobs in May. The +75,000 month-to-month increase was the second lowest so far this year. February’s figure was worse at +56,000.
What’s hidden, however, unless one digs a little deeper, is the fact that total U.S. employment in May really didn’t increase at all. The total jobs number now being reported for May, at 151.095 million, is the same as the total jobs number that was published a month ago for April. The explanation lies in the fact that April’s number has been revised down by -75,000.
The national unemployment rate in May stayed extremely tight, at 3.6%, the same as in the previous April. The participation rate likewise remained steady, at 62.8%.
The composition of May’s +75,000 jobs performance was an interesting combination of only +8,000 in goods production, +82,000 in the private services-providing sector and -15,000 with government. The public sector’s jobs loss was at the state (-10,000) and local (-9,000) levels, as Washington made a minor upwards staffing adjustment (+4,000).
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Tags: Alex Carrick, ConstructConnect, employ, employment, job, jobless, jobs, Labor, market
Comments Off on May’s Weakening in U.S. Jobs Growth and the Inverted Yield Curve
Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
Article source: ConstructConnect
Canadian total employment shot up by +106,000 jobs in April, and the nation’s unemployment rate declined to 5.7%, according to the latest Labour Force Survey findings from Statistics Canada.
March’s jobless rate had been 5.8%. The month-to-month improvement in the out-of-work proportion would have been greater if not for the fact that the ‘participation rate’ climbed from 65.7% to 65.9% between the third and fourth months of this year. (A higher participation rate means that more people are actively on the hunt for jobs.)
The average monthly gain in total employment in Canada through the first third of 2019 has been +55,000, a robust hike. From January to April of last year, the average monthly change in the total Canadian jobs count was -2,000.
Since April 2018, total employment in Canada has risen by +426,000 jobs, a notable achievement.
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Tags: Alex Carrick, Canada, jobless, jobs
Comments Off on Explosive Jobs Growth in Canada’s April Labour Force Report
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