Employment January 2011

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until

USDL-11-0129

8:30 a.m. (EST) Friday, February 4, 2011

Technical information:Household data: (202) 691-6378 • cpsinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cpsEstablishment data: (202) 691-6555 • cesinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cesMedia contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov

T

HE

E

MPLOYMENT

S

ITUATION

–

J

ANUARY

2011

The

unemployment rate

fell by 0.4 percentage point to 9.0 percent in January, while

nonfarm payroll

employment

changed little (+36,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employmentrose in manufacturing and in retail trade but was down in construction and in transportation and ware-housing. Employment in most other major industries changed little over the month.

Changes to The Employment Situation Tables and Data

Changes to The Employment Situation news release tables are being introduced with this re-lease. In addition, establishment survey data have been revised as a result of the annual bench-marking process and the updating of seasonal adjustment factors. Also, household survey datafor January 2011 reflect updated population estimates. See the notes on pages 4, 5, and 6 formore information about these changes.

-1000-800-600-400-2000200400600

Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10 Apr-10 Jul-10 Oct-10 Jan-11

Thousands

Chart 2. Nonfarm payroll employment over-the-monthchange, seasonally adjusted, January 2009 –January 2011

Percent4.05.06.07.08.09.010.011.0

Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10 Apr-10 Jul-10 Oct-10 Jan-11

Chart 1. Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted,January 2009 –January 2011

- 2 -

Household Survey Data

The

unemployment rate

(9.0 percent) declined by 0.4 percentage point for the second month in a row.(See table A-1.) The number of

unemployed persons

decreased by about 600,000 in January to 13.9million, while the labor force was unchanged. (Based on data adjusted for updated population controls.See table C.)Among the

major worker groups

, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.8 percent), whites (8.0 per-cent), and Hispanics (11.9 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.9percent), teenagers (25.7 percent), and blacks (15.7 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate forAsians was 6.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)The number of

job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs

fell from 8.9 to 8.5 million inJanuary. The number of

long-term unemployed

(those jobless for 27 weeks or more) edged down to 6.2million and accounted for 43.8 percent of the unemployed. (See tables A-11 and A-12.)After accounting for the annual adjustment to the population controls, the

employment-populationratio

(58.4 percent) rose in January, and the

labor force participation

rate

(64.2 percent) was un-changed. (See tables A-1 and C.)The number of persons employed

part time for economic reasons

(sometimes referred to as involun-tary part-time workers) declined from 8.9 to 8.4 million in January. These individuals were workingpart time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.(See table A-8.)In January, 2.8 million persons were

marginally attached to the labor force

, up from 2.5 million ayear earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force,wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. Theywere not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding thesurvey. (See table A-16.)Among the marginally attached, there were 1.0 million

discouraged workers

in January, about thesame as a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons notcurrently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.8million persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks pre-ceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total

nonfarm payroll employment

changed little in January (+36,000). Manufacturing and retail tradeadded jobs over the month, while employment declined in construction and in transportation and ware-housing. Since a recent low in February 2010, total payroll employment has increased by an average of 93,000 per month. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing

added 49,000 jobs in January. Over the month, job gains occurred in durable goods,including motor vehicles and parts (+20,000), fabricated metal products (+13,000), machinery(+10,000), and computer and electronic products (+5,000). Employment in nondurable goods manu-facturing declined by 13,000 over the month.

- 3 -

Employment in

retail trade

rose by 28,000 in January, after changing little in December. Retail tradehas added 123,000 jobs since its recent low point in December 2009. In January, employment inclothing stores increased by 15,000.

Health care

employment continued to trend up over the month (+11,000). Over the prior 12 months,health care had added an average of 22,000 jobs per month.In January,

construction

employment declined by 32,000. Within construction, there were job lossesamong nonresidential specialty trade contractors (-22,000) and in construction of buildings (-10,000).Employment in construction may have been impacted by severe winter weather affecting parts of thecountry during the survey reference period. (See the Frequently Asked Questions.)

Transportation and warehousing

employment fell by 38,000 in January, reflecting a sharp declineamong couriers and messengers (-45,000). Couriers and messengers had an unusually large job gain inDecember, followed by layoffs of a similar magnitude in January.Within professional and business services, employment in

temporary help services

was little changedin January (-11,000). Temporary help had added an average of 25,000 jobs per month over the prior 12months.The

average workweek for all employees

on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours inJanuary. The manufacturing workweek for all employees rose by 0.1 hour to 40.5 hours, while factoryovertime remained at 3.1 hours. The average workweek for

production and nonsupervisory employ-ees

on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.1 hour to 33.4 hours; the workweek fell by 1.0 hour inconstruction, likely reflecting severe winter weather. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)In January,

average hourly earnings for all employees

on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8cents, or 0.4 percent, to $22.86. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by1.9 percent. In January, average hourly earnings of private-sector

production and nonsupervisoryemployees

rose by 10 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $19.34. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised from +71,000 to +93,000,and the change for December was revised from +103,000 to +121,000. Monthly revisions result fromadditional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors. The annual benchmark process also contributed to these revisions.

The Employment Situation for February is scheduled to be released on Friday, March 4, 2011, at8:30 a.m. (EST).