20140110-BLS-THE_EMPLOYMENT_SITUATION_41页_289kb

Summary of the Employment Situation — December 2013

Core Content

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the December 2013 employment situation, highlighting a slight decrease in the unemployment rate and a modest increase in total nonfarm payroll employment.

Unemployment Rate and Payroll Employment

• The unemployment rate declined from 7.0% to 6.7% in December 2013.
• Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 74,000 in December.
• Over the year, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points, and the number of unemployed persons dropped by 1.9 million.

Key Data from Household Survey

Unemployment and Labor Force

• The number of unemployed persons fell by 490,000 to 10.4 million in December.
• The civilian labor force participation rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 62.8%.
• The employment-population ratio remained unchanged at 58.6%.
• The number of long-term unemployed (27 weeks or more) decreased by 894,000 over the year.

Unemployment Rates by Demographic Groups

• Adult men: Unemployment rate declined from 6.3% to 6.0%.
• Whites: Unemployment rate dropped from 5.9% to 5.9%.
• Adult women: Unemployment rate fell slightly to 6.0%.
• Teenagers (16–19 years): Unemployment rate decreased to 20.2%.
• Blacks: Unemployment rate remained at 11.9%.
• Hispanics: Unemployment rate was 8.3%, down by 2.5 percentage points over the year.
• Asians: Unemployment rate was 4.1%, not seasonally adjusted.

Unemployment Types

• Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs: Decreased by 365,000 to 5.4 million.
• Long-term unemployed: Stabilized at 3.9 million, making up 37.7% of the unemployed.
• Part-time for economic reasons (involuntary part-time workers): Remained at 7.8 million.
• Marginally attached to the labor force: Stabilized at 2.4 million, with 917,000 being discouraged workers.

Key Data from Establishment Survey

Employment Changes by Industry

• Retail trade: Increased by 55,000, with growth in food and beverage stores, clothing and accessories stores, and motor vehicle dealers.
• Wholesale trade: Increased by 15,000, primarily due to growth in electronic markets.
• Professional and business services: Increased by 19,000, with temporary help services adding 40,000 jobs.
• Manufacturing: Increased by 9,000, with gains in primary metals and petroleum and coal products.
• Mining: Increased by 5,000.
• Health care: Changed little, with a slight decline of 6,000.
• Information: Decreased by 12,000, mostly due to the motion picture and sound recording industry.
• Construction: Decreased by 16,000, possibly due to cold weather.

Workweek and Earnings

• The average workweek for all private nonfarm employees decreased by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours.
• Manufacturing workweek remained at 41.0 hours, while factory overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.5 hours.
• Average hourly earnings for all employees increased by 2 cents to $24.17.
• Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 3 cents to $20.35.

Revisions and Upcoming Changes

Seasonal Adjustments

• Seasonally adjusted household survey data from January 2009 to November 2013 were revised using updated seasonal adjustment factors.
• The unemployment rate changed by 0.1 percentage point in 6 of the 11 months.

Data Changes in the Establishment Survey

• The employment change for October was revised from +200,000 to +200,000, and November was revised from +203,000 to +241,000, increasing total employment gains by 38,000.

Upcoming Changes

• Starting with the January 2014 release, the Current Population Survey (CPS) will use new population controls, which may affect comparability with prior data.
• Table A-10 will include new seasonally adjusted data for women age 55 and over.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are there two monthly measures of employment?

• The household survey (CPS) and establishment survey (CES) are both used to measure employment.
• The CES has a smaller margin of error due to its larger sample size, making it more accurate for month-to-month changes.
• The CPS has a broader scope, including self-employed workers, unpaid family workers, and agricultural workers.
• The CPS provides demographic breakdowns of employment data.

2. Are undocumented immigrants counted in the surveys?

• Undocumented immigrants are likely included in both surveys, but legal status is not collected.
• The CPS collects data on foreign and native-born status, but not legal status.
• Table A-7 publishes data on foreign and native-born each month.

3. Why does the establishment survey have a lower threshold for significant change?

• The CES has a lower threshold for statistically significant change (about 100,000) compared to the CPS (about 400,000), due to its larger sample size.

Additional Notes

• Historical data will not be revised to reflect new population controls.
• Table A includes unemployment rates for January 2013 to November 2013, with revisions noted.
• Table B includes employment status and employment changes by industry and demographic group.