HEADLINES:

  • +250,000 jobs added
  • U3 unemployment rate unchanged at 3.7%
  • U6 underemployment rate declined -0.1% from 7.5% to 7.4% 

    • Here are the headlines on wages and the broader measures of underemployment:

    Wages and participation rates

  • Not in Labor Force, but Want a Job Now:  rose +72,000 from 5.237 million to 5.309 million   
  • Part time for economic reasons: fell -21,000 from 4.642 million to 4.621 million 
  • Employment/population ratio ages 25-54: rose +0.4% from 79.3% to 79.7%
  • Average Hourly Earnings for Production and Nonsupervisory Personnel: rose $.07 from  $22.82 to $22.89, up +3.2% YoY.  (Note: you may be reading different information about wages elsewhere. They are citing average wages for all private workers. I use wages for nonsupervisory personnel, to come closer to the situation for ordinary workers.) 

    • Holding Trump accountable on manufacturing and mining jobs

     Trump specifically campaigned on bringing back manufacturing and mining jobs.  Is he keeping this promise?  

  • Manufacturing jobs rose +32,000 for an average of +21,000/month in the past year vs. the last seven years of Obama’s presidency in which an average of +10,300 manufacturing jobs were added each month.   
  • Coal mining jobs fell -200 for an average of -8/month vs. the last seven years of Obama’s presidency in which an average of -300 jobs were lost each month

    • August was revised upward by 16,000. September was revised downward by -16,000, for no net change.

    The more leading numbers in the report tell us about where the economy is likely to be a few months from now. These were mainly positive.

  • the average manufacturing workweek fell by -0.1 hours to 40.8 hours.  This is one of the 10 components of the LEI.
  • construction jobs rose by +30,000. YoY construction jobs are up +330,000.  
  • temporary jobs rose by +3300. 
  • the number of people unemployed for 5 weeks or less decreased by -8,000 from 2,065,000 to 2,057,000.  The post-recession low was set five months ago at 2,034,000.
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