The BLS came out with their figures today for August. Here is my synopsis:
1. 26.2 million people are in trouble= 14.9 mil. Unemployed + 8.9 mil. Involuntarily working part-time + 2.4 mil. who are not even counted (e.g. 1.2 mil. or almost ½ who have given up looking). Those 26.2 million workers (up 500,000 from July) represent 16.8% of the entire workforce or 1 in 6 of everyone you meet!
2. The recession has killed off 7.9 million jobs. Many of them are not coming back!
3. BLS said that the National Unemployment rate was up .1% to 9.6% in August.
4. Illinois unemployment rate was 10.3% in July or down .1% (was 10.4% in June).
5. It is not good news that 9.6% is only up .1% from July. Instead, many people have given up looking for work and are no longer being counted by the BLS stats!
6. Loss of 54,000 non-farm jobs in August.
7. The biggest losers were: a) government employment, which lost 121,000 jobs especially due to the loss of 114,000 temporary Census workers, and b) manufacturing, which lost 27,000 jobs in August.
8. The gains were: a) Health Care which rose by 28,000 in August (on top of the 27,000 it added in July) b) Temp hiring rose 17,000 in August c) Mining was up 8,000 in August (on top of the 7,000 it was up in July) and d) Construction was up 19,000 jobs in August versus losing 11,000 in July).
9. How bad is it? Employers would need to add 400,000 net new jobs per month for the next 3 years to fully recover from the effects of this recession!
