GlobalLabor market improvement is continuing. Nonfarm payrolls grew 114,000 during September following revised gains of 142,000 and 181,000 during the prior two months, earlier reported as 96,000 and 141,000, respectively. A 120,000 increase was expected. Moderate job gains continued in most industries although government payroll growth was stronger than indicated earlier. The unemployment rate fell to 7.8% versus expectations for an uptick to 8.2% as employment surged as measured in the household survey.
The figures referenced above are available in Haver's USECON database. Additional detail can be found in the LABOR and in the EMPL databases. The expectation figures are from Action Economics and are in the AS1REPNA database.
The minutes for the latest FOMC meeting are available here http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20121004a.htm
| Employment: (M/M Chg., 000s) | Sep | Aug | Jul | Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll Employment | 114 | 142 | 181 | 1.4% | 1.2% | -0.7% | -4.4% |
| Previous | -- | 96 | 141 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Manufacturing | -16 | -22 | 18 | 1.5 | 1.8 | -2.7 | -11.6 |
| Construction | 5 | 1 | 3 | -0.1 | -0.3 | -8.2 | -16.0 |
| Private Service Producing | 114 | 119 | 143 | 1.8 | 1.8 | -0.1 | -3.5 |
| Government | 10 | 45 | 18 | -0.2 | -1.7 | -0.3 | 0.2 |
| Average Weekly Hours - Private Sector | 34.5 | 34.4 | 34.4 | 34. (Sep'11) |
34.4 | 34.1 | 33.9 |
| Average Private Sector Hourly Earnings (%) | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 3.0 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 9.0 (Sep'11) |
9.0 | 9.6 | 9.3 |
