The US non-farm payroll greatly missed expectations, adding only 96,000 jobs in August against expectations of 136,000 predicted by economists. That’s grim news.
Unemployment is down to 8.1% with total unemployed at 9.6%. The U-6 number is 14.7%
The labor participation rate is down to 63.5% from 63.7% which means the work force shrank by 386,000. A record number are applying for social security disability. This is a very concerning trend. People are giving up looking for work.
Manufacturing jobs declined in August, losing 15,000 jobs, mostly in the automotive sector.
The US dollar dropped against most major currencies on the news. Against the Euro the dollar fell to 1.2746, against the Yen the dollar is trading at 78.32 and against the British Pound 1.5964.
Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization
| Measure | Not seasonally adjusted | Seasonally adjusted | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug. 2011 |
July 2012 |
Aug. 2012 |
Aug. 2011 |
Apr. 2012 |
May 2012 |
June 2012 |
July 2012 |
Aug. 2012 |
|
| U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force | 5.2 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate) | 9.1 | 8.6 | 8.2 | 9.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.1 |
| U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers | 9.6 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 9.6 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.8 | 8.6 |
| U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force | 10.6 | 10.0 | 9.7 | 10.6 | 9.5 | 9.6 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 9.6 |
| U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force | 16.1 | 15.2 | 14.6 | 16.2 | 14.5 | 14.8 | 14.9 | 15.0 | 14.7 |
| NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule. Updated population controls are introduced annually with the release of January data. | |||||||||
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