Unemployment Rate Rises To 9.8%

The unemployment numbers were released today. Two analysts, Angie Clinton and Steve Haugen, from the BLS (Bureau Of Labor Statistics) were kind enough to share their findings with me, including:
1. The September unemployment rate rose .1% to 9.8%
2. There was a loss of 263,000 jobs in September.
3. The trend over the last five months was an average loss of 307,000 jobs. The September jobs figure was consistent with the jobs loss average.
4. The only sector that seemed to be growing was health care.
5. Jobs losses were across the board with construction (loosing 64,000 jobs) and manufacturing (loosing 51,000 jobs) being the hardest hit. Those two sectors accounted for 44% of the jobs losses in September.
6. Work hours were down .1 to 33.0, which has been a long-term over the last 30-40 years due to a systemic shift from goods producing to service oriented industries in our economy.
7. Long-term unemployment (people who have been out of work for 27 or more weeks) has been trending upward.
8. The number of people involuntarily working part time was unchanged, but continues to be at a very high level. These are people who prefer to work full time, but cannot find the appropriate full time jobs.
9. BLS will be announcing its preliminary benchmark revision for March 2009 on February 5, 2010, which will accompany their January jobs figures. At that time, employment will probably be revised downward by approximately 824,000 or -.6%.